On Friday October 15th, Cabinet endorsed criminal justice reforms, among them amendments to the 1995 Constitution and the Police Act, to deny suspects on capital offences bail or police bond. Cabinet sources singled out suspects on murder, rape, robbery and treason charges, among others, as the main target for the proposed reforms.
This however didn't sit well with lawmakers and human rights defenders who have condemned ministers for backing what they have called “draconian laws” that seek to curtail freedoms and take away the discretion of judicial officers to grant or deny bail.
Shadow governmebt Attorney General Wilfred Niwagaba, seemed really pressed by the move that he prayed for karma to befall the ministers. "Good enough our history is rich with examples of laws made with a political lense targeting regime critics and at the end of the day the same draconian laws affecting the movers first.
I pray that whoever supports the law whose effect is presumption of guilt as opposed to presumption of innocence becomes the first victim sooner rather than later." said Hon. Niwagaba.
Leader of opposition in the 11th parliament Hon. Mathias Mpuuga, also expressed his concerns towards the 'inhuman' act done by the ministers. "Mr Museveni and his cowardly Cabinet are free to dream power until eternity.
That’s part of what nations harvest when you allow a cabal to seize the national conscience. The right to bail is not a contest between NRM and Opposition, but between society conscience and political self-righteousness" He said.
The uproar didn't leave out Kampala Lord Mayor, His Lordship Erias Lukwago; "That will amount to a travesty of the spirit and letter of the ideals enshrined in the international protocols to which Uganda is a signatory like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenant on Civil and political rights. It will also tantamount to an overthrow of the constitutional foundation of our criminal justice system; one presumed innocent until proven guilty. I invite all MPs and right- thinking Ugandans to roundly reject this nefarious amendment." - Lord mayor lukwago.
