Muhwezi trial magistrate won’t quit
Nov 06, 2007
BUGANDA Road Court Chief Magistrate Margaret Tibulya has refused to step down from the trial of the former health ministers and ordered the case to resume in a week’s time. Tibulya said her relationship with the IGG, Faith Mwondha, could not interfere with her impartiality. After all, she noted, i
By Anne Mugisa, Charles Ariko and Edward Anyoli
BUGANDA Road Court Chief Magistrate Margaret Tibulya has refused to step down from the trial of the former health ministers and ordered the case to resume in a week’s time.
Tibulya said her relationship with the IGG, Faith Mwondha, could not interfere with her impartiality. After all, she noted, it was not the IGG on trial.
“I don’t view the case as a personal matter,†she told a packed courtroom yesterday. “Whether or not I am related to the IGG is irrelevant to the case. It is not the IGG on trial. If I bow down, I would be abdicating my duty as a judicial officer who took a judicial oath to administer justice without fear or favour.â€
Former health ministers Jim Muhwezi, Mike Mukula and Alex Kamugisha and former State House official Alice Kaboyo, who are on trial over alleged mismanagement of immunisation funds, had rejected Tibulya as the trial magistrate, arguing that she is a cousin of the accuser.
Tibulya also rejected their request for a longer adjournment to find replacement for their lawyers who walked out last week. She said they had enough time to find new lawyers by November 14, when the trial resumes.
“We allowed them a chance to exercise their rights so we adjourned the case to today, giving them over a week to get advocates to represent them. Today, the accused are coming back without lawyers, yet insisting on their rights to legal representation,†Tibulya said.
She would not allow the process to be hijacked by the accused, she warned. “Nobody denied them their right… .they should not be seen to be actively frustrating the hearing.â€
The four are accused of mismanaging sh1.6b of funds received from the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI).
During a press conference outside the court afterwards, the three ministers insisted that their trial had already been compromised. Mukula argued that the IGG herself had set a precedent by making the former judge step down “just because she was from the region I come fromâ€.
On May 24, Justice Oumo Oguli communicated her decision to withdraw from the case to the deputy registrar without giving any reasons.
Citing the Kizza Besigye trial, Dr. Kamugisha said Justice Katutsi stepped down because he happened to come from the same area as the accused.
The four accused are also challenging the IGG’s powers to prosecute them in the High Court. On Monday, the High Court directed Tibulya to forward the file to them.
After the court, Tibulya said she would hand over the file but the hearing would proceed as scheduled.
BUGANDA Road Court Chief Magistrate Margaret Tibulya has refused to step down from the trial of the former health ministers and ordered the case to resume in a week’s time.
Tibulya said her relationship with the IGG, Faith Mwondha, could not interfere with her impartiality. After all, she noted, it was not the IGG on trial.
“I don’t view the case as a personal matter,†she told a packed courtroom yesterday. “Whether or not I am related to the IGG is irrelevant to the case. It is not the IGG on trial. If I bow down, I would be abdicating my duty as a judicial officer who took a judicial oath to administer justice without fear or favour.â€
Former health ministers Jim Muhwezi, Mike Mukula and Alex Kamugisha and former State House official Alice Kaboyo, who are on trial over alleged mismanagement of immunisation funds, had rejected Tibulya as the trial magistrate, arguing that she is a cousin of the accuser.
Tibulya also rejected their request for a longer adjournment to find replacement for their lawyers who walked out last week. She said they had enough time to find new lawyers by November 14, when the trial resumes.
“We allowed them a chance to exercise their rights so we adjourned the case to today, giving them over a week to get advocates to represent them. Today, the accused are coming back without lawyers, yet insisting on their rights to legal representation,†Tibulya said.
She would not allow the process to be hijacked by the accused, she warned. “Nobody denied them their right… .they should not be seen to be actively frustrating the hearing.â€
The four are accused of mismanaging sh1.6b of funds received from the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI).
During a press conference outside the court afterwards, the three ministers insisted that their trial had already been compromised. Mukula argued that the IGG herself had set a precedent by making the former judge step down “just because she was from the region I come fromâ€.
On May 24, Justice Oumo Oguli communicated her decision to withdraw from the case to the deputy registrar without giving any reasons.
Citing the Kizza Besigye trial, Dr. Kamugisha said Justice Katutsi stepped down because he happened to come from the same area as the accused.
The four accused are also challenging the IGG’s powers to prosecute them in the High Court. On Monday, the High Court directed Tibulya to forward the file to them.
After the court, Tibulya said she would hand over the file but the hearing would proceed as scheduled.