The sentence imposed on David Ntege was excessive
Oct 31, 2005
<b>A learned friend and astute analyst</b><br><br><b>Abu Mayanja</b><br><br>In I958 I was arrested at Entebbe Airport and charged with the offence of importing into the country or being in possession of prohibited literature. I had been visiting John Kalekezi and his “foreign mission†of the
A learned friend and astute analyst
Abu Mayanja
In I958 I was arrested at Entebbe Airport and charged with the offence of importing into the country or being in possession of prohibited literature. I had been visiting John Kalekezi and his “foreign mission†of the Uganda National Congress (UNC) in Cairo, Egypt.
He had made it possible for me to visit my family before proceeding to London enroute to Accra, Ghana, to take part in the first all-African People’s conference chaired by Tom Mboya who called on the colonial powers to “scram out of Africaâ€.
John Kalekezi, the father of our Major General Kale Kaihura, had been a prolific, passionate and vehement pamphleteer, and, unaware that his publications had been banned in Uganda, I was happily carrying quite a number of them not only for our UNC office in Kampala, but also for possible use at the Accra Conference, when I was arrested. To cut the story short, I was tried, convicted and cautioned by way of sentence by the British Senior Resident magistrate, Entebbe.
In 1959, after my return to Uganda after the completion of my bar studies in London, I was again charged with creating a disturbance likely to interrupt the proceedings of the legislative Council (Legco) when I led some makerere students and other youths in a demonstration outside the kampala city council Hall where the Legco used to sit before the present parliamentary Buildings were constructed.
Once again, I was tried, convicted and fined sh1,000 which in those days was the equivalent of £50.
This says something about the immaturity of our political struggles at that time. when such a fine was imposed on a freshly returned student from abroad, no Ugandan nationalist or businessman offered to bail me out but it took Julius Nyerere to pay the fine from TANU funds! I was prompted into recalling these events which happened nearly 50 years ago when I read in the New Vision of October 24, the story of David Ntege who “recently addressed a sectarian remark to president Yoweri Museveni and was sentences to nine months’ imprisonment for “promoting sectarianismâ€.
Ntege, a resident of nakkigulube village in nakaseke, was convicted on his own plea of guilty in a Luweero Grade One magistrate’s court after spending six days in a police cell, waiting for his prosecution to be sanctioned in kampala by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). He is alleged to have told Museveni at a public rally on October 15 at nakaseke that the President “had given away Nakaseke district to the herdsmenâ€.
This was apparently understood to imply that the President had given the new district to banyankole and Banyarwanda, the principal herdsmen in the area. Pleading in mitigation, ntege said his statement was factual “but it was a slip of the tongue due to over-excitement†when he saw the president. He also pleaded that he had abdominal pain and a fever. He also had eight children to look after.
But these pleas did not impress the magistrate who imposed a fairly stiff custodial sentence despite the fact that Ntege was a first offender and had pleaded guilty (thus saving the court time and the country money). Besides, his human rights had been abused when he was kept in police custody for six days before being taken to court.
For the prosecution to justify this delay before taking a suspect to court on the grounds that they were waiting for the consent to the prosecution from the DPP is nonsense. This is because it was decided as far as 1959 by the East African court of appeal in my Legco case mentioned above and it is reported in the Law Reports that a prosecution does not commence until the actual trial begins.
so it was perfectly lawful and proper for the police to have produced Ntege before court even before the DPP had given his consent to the prosecution. My purpose for digging up my own old cases is to highlight the contrast between the sentencing policies of the colonial regime and those of our own day.
Quite clearly, the sentence imposed by the Luweero magistrate seems quite excessive considering all the facts and in view of the latitude to freedom of speech enjoyed nowadays, especially on FM radios and would warrant the High Court either of its own motion or on the petition by Ntege himself to call for his file and review the propriety of the sentence.
It should also be borne in mind that this was probably the first time that the anti-sectarian law was used against a person since it was enacted nearly 20 years ago! But if the High Court does not intervene, I would suggest that this would be a proper case for President Museveni himself, particularly as the “offensive†remark was addressed to him personally, to intervene and exercise his prerogative of mercy in favour of this peasant who quite clearly did not intend and was not aware that he was committing a crime.
Over to you, Mr. attorney General Khiddu Makubuya, to tender the appropriate advice to the president.
Abu Mayanja
In I958 I was arrested at Entebbe Airport and charged with the offence of importing into the country or being in possession of prohibited literature. I had been visiting John Kalekezi and his “foreign mission†of the Uganda National Congress (UNC) in Cairo, Egypt.
He had made it possible for me to visit my family before proceeding to London enroute to Accra, Ghana, to take part in the first all-African People’s conference chaired by Tom Mboya who called on the colonial powers to “scram out of Africaâ€.
John Kalekezi, the father of our Major General Kale Kaihura, had been a prolific, passionate and vehement pamphleteer, and, unaware that his publications had been banned in Uganda, I was happily carrying quite a number of them not only for our UNC office in Kampala, but also for possible use at the Accra Conference, when I was arrested. To cut the story short, I was tried, convicted and cautioned by way of sentence by the British Senior Resident magistrate, Entebbe.
In 1959, after my return to Uganda after the completion of my bar studies in London, I was again charged with creating a disturbance likely to interrupt the proceedings of the legislative Council (Legco) when I led some makerere students and other youths in a demonstration outside the kampala city council Hall where the Legco used to sit before the present parliamentary Buildings were constructed.
Once again, I was tried, convicted and fined sh1,000 which in those days was the equivalent of £50.
This says something about the immaturity of our political struggles at that time. when such a fine was imposed on a freshly returned student from abroad, no Ugandan nationalist or businessman offered to bail me out but it took Julius Nyerere to pay the fine from TANU funds! I was prompted into recalling these events which happened nearly 50 years ago when I read in the New Vision of October 24, the story of David Ntege who “recently addressed a sectarian remark to president Yoweri Museveni and was sentences to nine months’ imprisonment for “promoting sectarianismâ€.
Ntege, a resident of nakkigulube village in nakaseke, was convicted on his own plea of guilty in a Luweero Grade One magistrate’s court after spending six days in a police cell, waiting for his prosecution to be sanctioned in kampala by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). He is alleged to have told Museveni at a public rally on October 15 at nakaseke that the President “had given away Nakaseke district to the herdsmenâ€.
This was apparently understood to imply that the President had given the new district to banyankole and Banyarwanda, the principal herdsmen in the area. Pleading in mitigation, ntege said his statement was factual “but it was a slip of the tongue due to over-excitement†when he saw the president. He also pleaded that he had abdominal pain and a fever. He also had eight children to look after.
But these pleas did not impress the magistrate who imposed a fairly stiff custodial sentence despite the fact that Ntege was a first offender and had pleaded guilty (thus saving the court time and the country money). Besides, his human rights had been abused when he was kept in police custody for six days before being taken to court.
For the prosecution to justify this delay before taking a suspect to court on the grounds that they were waiting for the consent to the prosecution from the DPP is nonsense. This is because it was decided as far as 1959 by the East African court of appeal in my Legco case mentioned above and it is reported in the Law Reports that a prosecution does not commence until the actual trial begins.
so it was perfectly lawful and proper for the police to have produced Ntege before court even before the DPP had given his consent to the prosecution. My purpose for digging up my own old cases is to highlight the contrast between the sentencing policies of the colonial regime and those of our own day.
Quite clearly, the sentence imposed by the Luweero magistrate seems quite excessive considering all the facts and in view of the latitude to freedom of speech enjoyed nowadays, especially on FM radios and would warrant the High Court either of its own motion or on the petition by Ntege himself to call for his file and review the propriety of the sentence.
It should also be borne in mind that this was probably the first time that the anti-sectarian law was used against a person since it was enacted nearly 20 years ago! But if the High Court does not intervene, I would suggest that this would be a proper case for President Museveni himself, particularly as the “offensive†remark was addressed to him personally, to intervene and exercise his prerogative of mercy in favour of this peasant who quite clearly did not intend and was not aware that he was committing a crime.
Over to you, Mr. attorney General Khiddu Makubuya, to tender the appropriate advice to the president.