________________

Despite finding all his sureties substantial, the General Court Martial (GCM) has for the second time declined to release on bail Superintendent of Police Vincent Irama Urri.

SP Irama, 45, attached to Kampala Metropolitan North, and five others, are accused of allegedly murdering city lawyer Ronnie Mukisa (RIP).

Mukisa was gunned down on May 30, at 11:00 pm, while at his home in Kitiko-Birongo, Ndejje Division, Wakiso District.

Delivering his ruling, GCM chairman Brig. Gen. Robert Freeman Mugabe observed that the offence was capital and of a serious nature, bailable and that the applicant was a family man, who proved that he had a fixed place of abode within the court’s jurisdiction.

Court further ruled that the sureties presented were substantial, however, adding, “The applicant is likely to interfere with witnesses.”

“In the premises, this court finds no merit in the application and declines to grant bail to the applicant. The application is hereby dismissed,” ruled Mugabe, ordering an expeditious trial of the applicant in the main case.

The ruling comes weeks after the prosecution led by Lt Col Raphael Mugisha, Lt Alex Mukhwana, Private Anthony Phillip Olupot, and Private Regina Nanzala invited the court not to grant the applicant bail, saying he was a flight risk.

Through his lawyers Elizabeth Nyasingwa, Capt. Simon Nsubuga Busagwa, and Private Priscilla Kakande, Irama had arraigned four sureties.

These are Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) John Asobasi, a friend of the applicant, Tom Phillip Irama, his uncle, Penina Irama, his wife, and Vicent Sseruwujjo, the applicant's friend and neighbour.

Co-accused

Irama is battling the charges alongside UPDF officers Corporal Geoffrey Mark Anyesa, 51, a resident of Kisasi, Kulambiro, in Nakawa Division, and Sergeant Rashid Ayup Okot, 33, aboding at Kafunda Kazo, Nabweru in Nansana Municipality.

Others are civilians Mzee Josebert Hayeza, 51, Robert Irama Kareodu, 50, and his wife Brenda Cathy Nalwoga, 29, both residents of Kisasi.

The prosecution alleges that Irama, Anyase, Ayubu, Hayeza, Kareodu, and Nalwoga on or around May 30, 2023, at about 2300 hours at Katiko in Wakiso district, with malice aforethought, unlawfully caused the death of Mukisa.