I Speak What Others Fear! No Evidence, No Bad Record—Still No Bail For Besigye? In-Justice Served

By Andrew Irumba Katusabe

Her Worship Justice Rosette Comfort Kania, in her ruling agreed with the Kizza Besigye ‘s legal team that he has all the requisite qualifications for a bail. She even brought out, very well his history of other cases where he got bail and never jumped one. She agreed that he’s of advanced age, she agreed that he’s a senior citizen with permanent residence. She agreed that he had presented sufficient sureties.

On her file, she has no incriminating ‘evidence’ brought to her by prosection against Besigye.She has none. She has no criminal record against KB.

But she went ahead and denied bail because she ANTICIPATES, Besigye might jeopardize investigations! 😀😀. Even when she has no legal or moral basis to think that way, her guesswork and “ANTICIPATION” remains ‘Lawful’.

1-Prosecution has not adduced any iota of evidence against which she would rely on to deny bail with a sense that there’s some premafacie case and the case is big, if released he might run. If there was some atleast compelling evidence to start with, one would think otherwise.

A clear example is #Molly Katanga’s where she has denied bail.I have been personally covering this case and atleast you can see that there’s basis for denial of bail because prosecution has adduced some convincing evidence that can really convince a judge to some extent. But for Besigye,it’s simply gumbling.

In brief, Kania has sentenced Besigye and Lutale before hearing them! Now, you’re supposed to dispense JUSTICE, that’s why you’re called YOUR WORSHIP, YOUR LORDSHIP, JUSTICE etc,because you’re seen as the temple of Justice.

2- So, my thinking is that, I think we should amend the judicial powers and try them;

(a)-We’re giving a single person (Magistrate and Judge) a lot of powers to sit alone in a chair, and based on his/her mood upon which he/she left home or the burial site the previous day, to come and decide the fate of a citizen. I have seen and heard many prisoners arguing that the day they were brought before the judge or magistrate, he/she looked to have been unhappy from a different location altogether,and that,that day, every one who was brought in court was given unreasonable sentences. Indeed some appeal and win. But even the appeal is an uphill task financially and otherwise.

(b)- Each hearing should atleast have 3 judges or Magistrates right from beginning. The fate of that suspect,in the hands of one judge or Magistrate,where they have powers to even sentence you to death,life imprisonment or 50yrs in jail is such a big issue or be left to one judge. We should protect the Rights of the suspect from the beginning.

The country has the money to have enough judges,don’t talk about the expenses when we even have shs100m to simply give to Mps.

I saw a magistrate recently, out of anger sentenced a woman who tortured a baby to over 20 yrs in Prison! Is that proportionate? She wanted to act to the public gallery. Yes, it’s wrong to torture a baby,but you must be reasonable enough while punishing the culprit. Moreover she was a 1st time offender.

But we’ve people who steal aids patients’ money and the sentence is 2 yrs! How many patients will this culprit have killed compared to the woman who tortured the baby, but the baby is alive?

One Magistrate or judge might be working in other developed countries but not Uganda, because in those countries like Europe and America, you can’t even suspect that a judge has been bribed or is being directed via phone by the regime on what to do. So if you’re about to bring those examples of where ‘benchmarks’ please spare me. We should design our own models that work for us, not what works elsewhere. Dynamics are different.

I want to think that Justice Kania errored both in law and common sense. We’re now under her guesswork, which is also protected by law, shame.