High Court judge Alice Komuhangi Khaukha has been appointed to preside over the pre-trial of embattled Members of Parliament (MPs) Muhammad Ssegirinya, Allan Ssewanyana and their co-accused over greater Masaka murder charges.

The MPs who represent Kawempe North and Makindye West respectively have been on remand for nearly a year over the charges and their attempt to secure bail has been futile to date.

The pre-trial in their case had been suspended following the transfer of Justice Elizabeth Jane Alividza to the Land Division of the High Court.

However, the good news is that the deputy registrar of the International Crimes Division of the High Court Stella Court Beatrice Atingu has allocated the case to Komuhangi with instructions to resume the pre-trial on September 28.

Before her admission to the bench, Komuhangi served as an Assistant Director of Public Prosecution in the office of the Director of Public Prosecution (ODPP) that is prosecuting the matter.

The Office of the Director of Prosecution has since filed with court sketch maps drawn from the crime scenes, medical reports of the accused persons and the postmortem reports as part of its evidence.

Under the International Crimes Division of the High Court rules, pre-trial is mandatory whereby the court determines whether or not the evidence adduced by the prosecution is enough to sustain the charge or not.

In case the evidence is found insufficient, the accused is set free and in case it is found sufficient, the accused is committed to a panel of three judges for trial.

In November last year, the MPs together with Bulo Wamala, John Mugerwa, Jackson Kanyike and Mike Sserwadda were committed for trial over the murder of Mugerwa Kizza, Sulaiman Kakooza and attempted murder of Ronald Sebyoto.  

Prosecution alleges that between January and August 2021, the accused and others still at large with the intent to intimidate the public for political, religious or economic aim, indiscriminately directly involved themselves in the murders and attempted murder of people in Masaka region.