Reform the criminal justice system

Michael Aboneka

In the recent past, the media was awash with debates on bail which is not the first time these conversations come up. 

There have been arguments for and against President Museveni’s proposal to have bail for capital offenders suspended or in what he calls postponed to 180 days. 

Much as I do not agree with the President’s proposal since the current status quo already cures his fears, we should not dwell on one component of the criminal justice system but the entire spectrum. 

It is time to review and reform the criminal justice system to ensure that every person can have a fair and speedy trial since all judicial power is derived from the people and should be exercised in the name of the people and in conformity with the laws, norms, values, and aspirations of the people. 

The Constitution under Article 23 provides for an elaborate process in which an arrest should be made to wit, introducing yourself as an arresting officer, the reason for the arrest in the language one understands, ensuring access to a lawyer, next of kin and medical treatment among others. This is further strengthened by a couple of other laws. 

The manner of arrest that we have witnessed is worrying and in conflict with the constitutional provisions. Several people have been kidnapped in the name of arrests, others beaten and roughed up without any of the arresting officers introducing themselves and giving reason for the arrest. 

Further, I do not understand why suspects are always thrown under the seats of the police pick-up trucks in a gruesome and degrading manner. This tendency is inhuman and degrading and unconstitutional. 

Every suspect must be treated innocent until proven guilty by a competent court of law but the manner of arrest in this country seems to suggest that suspects are already guilty and must prove themselves innocent. 

Many cases have collapsed simply because there were many errors made at arrest and processing of suspects. There is need for reorientation of the officers but also strict adherence to the set rubric and whoever veers off should face the full arm of the law.

One of the fundamentals of criminal justice is jurisdiction. Why should one who is charged with a capital offence appear before a magistrate’s court at all? Why does the magistrate’s court have power to remand a suspect but not to grant bail? 

If one is charged with a capital offence, they should be arraigned before the court with jurisdiction to handle both the pre and trial, otherwise if left unresolved, we shall not have a fair and speedy trial for all.

The reason why we have many people on remand is because the State is still investigating a matter. In 2019, the convict remandee ratio stood at 53:47 which is still a huge number as there are more than 30,000 people on remand in prisons.  

Arrests should be carried out when there is reasonable and sizeable evidence of commission of a crime or intention to commit one. We are using the arrest to settle personal scores thereby rendering the relevance of criminal justice useless. 

The investigation department needs to be equipped with necessary tools, infrastructure, and adherence to standard operating procedures to ensure that first, a crime is prevented and that even when it is committed, there is reasonable evidence to cause an arrest.

 We need to have more judicial officers, at least a magistrate’s court per district will help salvage the worrying situation where a magistrate serves two or more districts. 

Why do we find it important to have an MP for each constituency but not a magistrate’s court for each district? Why is it more important to have a car for each MP and not one for each magistrate whose services are more needed daily? 

We need to rethink our priorities and equip magistrates and judicial officers to offer fair and speedy trials in order to deal with case backlogs.

Mr Michael Aboneka