The Parliamentary caucus of Uganda’s ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party will soon convene to determine the fate of the bail right granted to suspects accused of committing murder.
According to president Yoweri Museveni, this meeting may be a precursor to Constitutional amendments that will pave way for deletion of bail from law books in Uganda.
In the presidential address he delivered this week, President Museveni said granting of bail to murderers is abominable. He also proposed that the law on bail should be repealed since it encorages mob action.
This same message, he re-emphasized in a tweet posted on Saturday, but with new committment.
“For someone to kill a person and you give them bail is a provocation. It is abominable. I would like us to cure this ideological disagreement. This bail, what is the hurry? Who are you trying to please?” Museveni said.
President Museveni is the national chairman of the ruling NRM party under which the parliamentary caucus operates as an organ.
“We are going to work on this. I am going to summon the NRM caucus and if neccessary put it to a referendum. With this provocation, people will take the law into their own hands.” He posted.
Bail is a Constitutional right in Uganda guaranteed as a fundamental right in Article (23)6 and with basis in Article 28 which states that an accused person is presumed innocent until he or she is proved or he/she pleads guilty
Over the years, president Museveni has expressed discontent towards bail rights and during his post budget speech in 2018, Museveni asked the police and courts to desist from granting bond and bail to persons suspected murderers.
Museveni’s comments came at the heels of incidents of rampant killings that rocked the country including the murder of Former Arua Municipality MP Ibrahim Abiriga.
Any arrested person and taken to police may be released on police bond on guarantee that one will turn up whenever required while bail is the release of an accused person by court before completion of the case on the understanding that the released person will turn up for trial whenever requires.
Museveni stated that he was not going to accept bail and bond anymore. “I don’t want to hear about them again. Somebody suspected of killing our people, you give him/her police bond? No way! This is not acceptable,” Museveni said amid applause from MPs.
“I have been very soft on these institutions [police and court] who are always stepping on us.” Museveni added.
Since then, however, courts have continued to grant bail to suspects on charges of murder with the latest case involving Makindye West MP Allan Ssewanyana who is implicated in the killings that recently happened in Greater Masaka sub region.
Allan Ssewanyana was freed from Kigo Prison on Thursday after court granted him bail but he was immediately re-arrested and taken to an unknown location.