The former presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi known as Bobi Wine has said President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni is panicking to change bail law because he wants to incarcerate him.
The leader of the National Unity Platform (NUP) made this statement while at Kigo prison on Monday where he had gone to visit jailed fellow party members and lawmakers Muhammad Ssegirinya (Kawempe North) and Allan Ssewanyana (Makindye West).
Bobi Wine said removing bail and police bond is only intended to persecute them as politicians in the opposition and added that the two Ssegirinya and Ssewanyana are the first culprits of what president Museveni wants because the major reason for removing the bail is to arrest him and other sounding and strong political party leaders.
He however asserted that they will use all means to fight the plans of amending the constitution because it’s a planned mission to fight the opposition. “We all know that the main reason for arresting the two (Ssegirinya and Ssewanyana) is to attack the opposition because they want me to fall in their trap. This is how this government has been treating people opposing it. Now Mr. Museveni is trying to remove the bail and Police bond so that he can keep us locked in the prions. This is what he did to Besigye and finally, the court dismissed all the cases.”
Late last month President Museveni embarked on a mission pushing to scrap bail for presumed capital offenders. Ever since then, in all his speeches recently President Museveni has vowed that he will not accept the issue of the bond by police in capital cases.
“’Some judicial officers and the police are doing things which have no connection with reality. Bail for criminals is a right? How about the rights of victims? People are being killed but you are defending criminals- suspects of criminal offences?” We are continuing to discuss this with stakeholders and nobody will stop us,’’ he said eerier this year.
However it’s not only the opposition who are fighting President Museveni’s personal wish, during the 4th Annual Memorial Lecture of the former Chief Justice Benedicto Kiwanuka, held at the Judiciary headquarters in Kampala early this month Chief Justice Alfonso Owiny-Dollo said bail is a constitutional right which is supposed to be either granted or denied upon the discretion of the presiding judicial officer who should also exercise that discretion judiciously.
Owiny-Dollo informed President, Museveni that a judicial officer cannot wake up from the wrong or good side of the bed and decide whether to grant or deny bail to an accused person because it’s a constitutional right, the officer has to grant upon considering a number of circumstances for instance, if one will abscond from trial or not among others.
Many political actors, human rights activists have come out and opposed the idea of scrapping bail from the constitution of Uganda.
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