By UJA Team.
When journalist Richard Wanambwa was apprehended in December 11 th 2024 and thrown in detention at Luzira Murchison Bay prison, a team of his lawyers immediately mooted a plan aiming to cause his release from jail.
Securing him release on bail is one of the immediate measures that was to be explored under a well laid out plan. However, as the planned efforts gained success, prosecution led by the state attorney Richard Birivumbuka set out enormous technical legal perils to ensure that all those efforts failed in order to keep him in detention.
Birivumbuka outstretched his prosecutorial strategy when he opened two more other files containing what the lawyers described as similar counts against Wanambwa in two other different Courts presided over by the magistrates Frank Namanya and Andrew Katurubuki, both under the Nakawa Chief Magistrate Court by her worship Christine Nantege, where an initial file of more than nine charges do lie.
Notable among the charges is hate speech and demanding property by written threats against Abu Mukasa contrary to section 270 of the Penal code Act cap 128, all the jailed journalist had pleaded not guilty to. The said property was allegedly channeled through Alexander Kibandama and Fisher Kasule on behalf of Abu Mukasa.
Court record shows the Ugandan prominent businessman Abu Mukasa also known as Muyunga and Sheikh Mohammad Bin Juma Makhtoum an investor into the Uganda’s oil sector from the UAE as complainants against the incarcerated journalist.
The Uganda Journalists Association (UJA) and the Human Rights Network for Journalists are providing the legal aid to bolster Wanambwa’s defense from the leveled allegations and accusations against him that he be released back to his freedom.
When the journalist’s legal team led by the UJA lawyer Evans Ochieng fulfilled the legal requirements for the journalist’s bail application with his worship Andrew Katurubuki’s presided Court including presenting the substantial sureties with their original national IDS and village LC 1 letters, Birivumbuka rose in a very passionate staged fight with objections against the same, insisting that he needed more time through a Court adjournment for two weeks to verify the presented documents since they may have been forgeries from Nasser road.
“This Court is not an issue of the IDS nor author of the said letters, therefore, the documents are a suspect to verification”, Birivumbuka said.
However, senior counsel Ochieng extinguished Birivumbuka ignited fight in a sharp shoot down, clarifying that he was wrongly attempting to assume himself the verification role of the documents which is vested in Court.
Ochieng requested for Court’s disregard of Birivumbuka prayer, explaining that it is only the production of the documents that is required of the sureties according to the law. “The role of state attorney must be distinct from the role of LC and Ministry of Internal Affairs to verify” He emphasized.
In a supplementary rebut against the prosecution’s presented claims, another jailed journalist’s defense senior lawyer Michael Akampulira asked Court to exercise its discretionary power by rejecting their prayer for further adjournment, saying the grant of bail is a right under Article 28 of the constitution.
“There is presumption of innocence, so a person cannot be kept in detention when a person is innocent.” Akampulira stated.
In the interest of delivering a fair ruling in relation to the issues fronted by lawyers for both sides, the trial magistrate Katurubuki decided to adjourn Court for 1 hour to enable the state attorney Birivumbuka make consultations with NIRA in relation to the disputed IDS, which he eventually accepted.
While over ruling the prosecution on his prayer for a fortnights’ time Court adjournment, the trial magistrate observed that it was un fair to adjourn the matter for such a time since the state is being the prosecutor of the case and an issuer of all the impugned documents.
Birivumbuka Goes into Hiding in the Wake of Court Session.
When Court resumed from a temporal adjournment, however, the 1-hour time that had been set for the matter to be stood over for completion of the said consultations lapsed, expanding it from the initial 12 mid-day to 2:00 pm when nothing as such was carried out.
The state attorney Birivumbuka instead chose to disappear himself as he went missing with nowhere to be traced until when his fellow female colleague whom they were appearing together informed Court that she was standing in for him since they had equal instructions to represent the state.
She told Court as her senior colleague Birivumbuka had eventually told her that the 1- hour time adjournment by Court was not enough for them to make consultations, in a mobile phone communication that had been held between the two as she traced for his whereabouts, thus maintaining the adjournment prayer for more days.
However, the defense lawyer Akampilira in a rejoinder told Court that prosecution did not necessarily need to travel to the Ministry of Internal Affairs to carry out the said consultations given that they had a benefit of exploring the current technological means using their phones to consult. “To say that you need days to verify IDS is very unfair”.
The visibly bold and courageous Akampulira noted that there was a growing pattern of charging the citizenry in Court by Birivumbuka and start playing games, which should not be entertained by Court.
“He is now absent despite alerts calling him back, that is indicative of disobedience of Court by him”,
Akampulira as he asked Court to proceed by dismissing his application seeking to block the journalist’s bail application.
Court Grants Journalist Wanambwa a Bail.
After considering the submissions from all sides, his Worship Katurubuki allowed journalist Wanambwa to be released on a cash bail of 3 million shillings noting that all the charges against him are bailable. He also ordered his sureties to pay 20 million shillings each not cash.
This means that Wanambwa will only walk out of the detention upon consideration of his pending bail applications by Chief Magistrate Christine Nantege’s Court in late February 26 th and Frank Namanya on 25 th of the same month, despite his release by HW Katurubuki’s Court.
In what looked to have left many attendees of that Court session in a surprise including the defense lawyers, is seeing Birivumbuka walking back inside the Court room as soon as Court was adjourned to March 4th when the matter will be coming up for further hearing.
