MPs Muhammad Ssegirinya (NUP, Kawempe North) and Allan Ssewanyana (NUP, Makindye West) were on Tuesday remanded to Kitalya Prison after being charged with murder by Masaka Chief Magistrate Charles Yeteise.
The prosecution accused them of being behind the murders of Mugerwa Kiiza Francis alias Nswa and Sulaiman Kakooza in Settaala cell, Masaka City.
The two were accused on four counts; three murders and one for attempted murder. Although their lawyers led by the Lord Mayor of Kampala Erias Lukwago objected to remanding them to Kitalya, the court stayed its order.
On Wednesday their lawyers embarked on securing a court bail, however as they were on the way to Kitalya prison to get their signatures, they were informed that their clients were instead taken to Kigo prison.
“It was very unusual, to see that Prisons service did not follow that court order because the magistrate was clear his order was to take them to Kitalya. We were not even informed that our clients were being taken to a different prison. They decided on their own, they disobeyed the court order,” Lukwago said.
However, according to the spokesperson of Uganda Prisons Service Frank Baine, the prisons act gives them the mandate to transfer an inmate without any consultation from the court.
“Whatever we did was within the law. The court sent them to Kitalya but according to experiences and responsibility of the prison commissioner, he ordered that they take them to Kigo prison. They are many things that we depend on to make such decision so people should not politicize this matter,” Baine said on Thursday.
He added that the public should not exaggerate the matter because the two MPs are not the first politicians to be taken to Kigo.
“We have handled most respected people more than them, so the public should not think that we can not handle them.”
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