Mao given ultimatum on pre-trial detention report

KAMPALA - Justice minister Nobert Mao has been directed to present before Parliament, a statement on prolonged pre-trial detention within a week.

The Government was on Tuesday, February 4, 2025, expected to present a statement about the same to the House. However, this did not happen. The statement was supposed to provide clarity on reports that some suspects have been held in jails for as long as 28 years without trial. 

However, Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka told the House that the minister was unable to make all the necessary consultations saying the Judiciary was busy preparing the just-concluded Supreme Court ruling on the trial of civilians in the General Court Martial.

“I regret to report that we are unable to make this statement today, when the matter came up last week, the minister made an effort to meet the Chief Justice, the Judiciary team and the team was busy with the ruling that came in on Friday,” Kiryowa Kiwanuka said.

Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa said the basis for the minister’s failure to honour Parliament’s request was not convincing cognisant that the Uganda Prisons Service periodically provides information on the status of prisoners. (Credit: Maria Wamala)

Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa said the basis for the minister’s failure to honour Parliament’s request was not convincing cognisant that the Uganda Prisons Service periodically provides information on the status of prisoners.

“The Uganda Prisons Service updates the Director of Public Prosecution and other relevant authorities every six months on the number of prisoners they have and their status, I do not know why the meetings would be required, because the records are clear,” Tayebwa said.

House Human Rights committee chairperson Fox Odoi-Oywelowo said the committee provided the Attorney General’s Office with sufficient information from their oversight visits to prisons.

Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka told the House that the minister was unable to make all the necessary consultations saying the Judiciary was busy preparing the just-concluded Supreme Court ruling on the trial of civilians in the General Court Martial. (Credit: Maria Wamala)

“We supplied to the Deputy Attorney General a comprehensive list of all remand prisoners who have been imprisoned for periods ranging from certain months to 28 years so, I believe he has sufficient information to work with,” Odoi-Oywelowo said.

He explained that the information submitted includes their locations, the crimes they were charged with, when they were arrested and the period they have stayed in incarceration.

Kiryowa Kiwanuka argued that his office cannot act on the information provided without hearing from the courts which remanded the prisoners in question.

“These are the people in the custody of the courts. Having the list in the Attorney General’s Chambers does not give us the mandate to act on them,” he said.