Prime
Court martialing civilians? Create military tribunals
Writer: Asuman Bisiika. PHOTO/FILE
What you need to know:
- ...offences or charges under which civilians should be tried in military tribunals should be clear and specified.”
With its capabilities and latitude of deployment, the Special Forces Command had made the UPDF look like a tri-command force.
There was the Lands Forces and the Air Force. And then, there was the Special Forces Command (which was neither here nor there). In 2016, I argued that the SFC should formally be mainstreamed as the 3rd force of the UPDF. I have learnt that one of the main objectives of amending the UPDF Act was to buy into my idea: designation of the Special Forces Command as the third force of the UPDF.
There was no urgency for the UPDF Amendment Bill. After all, there was no challenge on the way Special Forces Command was doing stuff (save for MP Ssemuju Nganda’s occasional rattling). And then Dr Kizza Besigye happened. Dr Besigye had been abducted from Kenya and brought before the General Court Martial in Kampala. He protested: as a civilian, he argued, the General Court Martial was not qualified and competent to try him. In late January, the Supreme Court of Uganda delivered a judgment on the issue of trying civilians in the court martial. Verdict: nay. No civilians should be tried in military courts. Ugandans cheered the Supreme Court.
Then Mr Museveni did what Obote did with the Busoga Validation Act. He dusted the UPDF Amendment Bill and brought it back to Parliament (with new insertions providing for the trial of civilians in court-martial). The Bill was passed by the Parliament of Uganda last Tuesday. And very soon, Dr Kizza Besigye’s trial may begin in General Court Martial.
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I read some policy paper that informed the UPDF Amendment Bill. My general understanding was that the UPDF was trying to wean itself off the NRA structure and military attitude. Here are some key takeaways I made. The role of the CDF would be taken over by a Joint Command (limiting him or her to chair and guide the Joint Command). With a Joint Command, Service Chiefs would enjoy a collegial reference to each other and their chairperson (CDF). They would not make decisions single-handedly. At service level, Service chiefs would operate within the Service Command and Staff Committees. The CDF would not wake up and issue orders because each command would have its own command and control committee. He would only have to cause a meeting to happen.
Another office that would take a lot of responsibility away from the CDF is the Chief of Joint Staff (CJS – formerly Chief of Staff). Unlike the CDF, his or her main role would be specified: he or she would be responsible for the coordination and administration of the UPDF. The famous Special Forces Command would be renamed as Special Force and be integrated into the UPDF. That UPDF Act Amendment Bill was actually supposed to modernise and professionalise the military establishment.
The Bill was supposed to give Ugandans a military establishment structure like the TPDF or SANDF. But now see how the provision of trying civilians in court martial has ruined things. Now no one cares about other ‘gooder’ parts of the Act. It is like the UPDF is fighting Ugandans. Now me as me, I suggest that another Bill be brought to Parliament providing for the trial of civilians by the military. This Bill should create military tribunals specifically to try civilians for particular offences. Such a legislation creating military tribunals before which civilians may appear should have an expiry date or be renewable. The offences or charges under which civilians should be tried in military tribunals should be clear and specified. That way, we would leave the UPDF out of these things that look like politics.
Mr Bisiika is the former executive editor of the East African Flagpost. [email protected]
