When Ali was imprisoned
OVER time, the High Court has decided on a number of high profile cases. In a series, <i>Saturday Vision</i> looks back at some of the attention-grabbing cases that have visited the court room.<br>WHEN the military junta of Tito Okello Lutwa fell in 1986
By chris kiwawulo
WHEN the military junta of Tito Okello Lutwa fell in 1986, Lt. Gen. Moses Ali, then a brigadier, joined the National Resistance Army (NRA, now UPDF), with over 1,000 Uganda National Rescue Front (UNRF) soldiers, whom he was leading.
President Yoweri Museveni, who had taken over power in 1986, welcomed Ali and incorporated his soldiers into the NRA. Ali was then appointed a tourism and wildlife minister before becoming a state minister for youth, culture and sports.
However, things took a different turn on April 7, 1990. Ali was arrested on treason and terrorism charges. He was held at Lubiri military barracks pending his trial before the Kampala Chief Magistrate, Edward Bamwite, started in October 1990.
ali in court
On October 10, prosecution led by State Attorney Semuka Mukomba, said Ali was arrested at the entrance to State House in Entebbe, when he was reportedly going to meet the President.
Mukomba said Ali, who had been promoted to brigadier, was accused of keeping supplies for rebels based in the DR Congo (then Zaire) and Adjumani. Mukomba told court that a file was recovered from Ali and it was part of the State exhibits in the case.
The Criminal Investigations Director, Samuel Echaku, said Ali was arrested following information that he was keeping military hardware to be supplied to the rebels in Zaire and Adjumani in Moyo to wage war against the NRM government.
echaku’s evidence
As a key witness in the case, Echaku told court on October 22 that his office received information in early 1990 that Ali was engaged in treasonable activities in Kampala.
Police detectives, he added, had been deployed to carry out surveillance on Ali’s movements and his alleged collaborators. Echaku said he also alerted the central brigade commander, James Kazini a lieutenant colonel at the time.
Echaku said as they came out of an April 7, security meeting at State House with Kazini, they found Ali at the entrance and asked the guards to arrest him.
However, Echaku denied that the decision to arrest Ali was taken during the State House meeting, arguing that it was just a coincidence. “I saw him in a telephone booth. It seemed as if he was talking on phone. So I waited and arrested him.†Ali was taken to Lubiri military barracks “for security reasonsâ€.
the gun
The following day (April 8), Echaku told court, he went with a contingent of Police officers, accompanied by the military, under Lt. Edward Kacumitana’s command, to search Ali’s residence in Kololo.
He said in the search, they found 16 guns, bullets, military uniforms (some of which were not for the Ugandan army), a seal, documents, cameras, films and 46 passports.
Echaku said because there were many guns, they concluded that Ali was involved in treason.
He added that they also got information that Ali intended to ferry the weapons to his farm in Adjumani from where rebels based in Zaire could access them and use them against Uganda.
When they consulted the NRM Secretariat to ascertain whether the items had been allocated to Ali, the officials reportedly said the brigadier was only entitled to some but not all of the guns.
Echaku said when detectives were sent to West Nile to determine whether the owners of the recovered passports were students as Ali argued, the alleged students denied having applied for the passports. “Some of them had no knowledge of the application procedure, while others were too old to go for studies,.â€
tough ali
Ali was detained at Lubiri barracks because they suspected that his supporters would rescue him from Police custody, according to Echaku.
The CID chief added that they did not search Ali’s residence in his presence because they deemed it dangerous to move him from Lubiri to Kololo ‘since his supporters and the many guards he had at home would rescue him’.
He continued that Ali, on March 17, 1990 at The Guide newspaper offices on Bombo Road, loaded a trailer with ammunition and drums of diesel and is said to have ferried them to Adjumani.
Court further heard that Ali supervised the loading of the arms with a pistol in his hand “to prevent people from coming near the scene.â€
Another witness who testified was Edward Kagazi, the acting permanent secretary in the Ministry of Relief and Social Rehabilitation.
He told court that Ali was entitled to only two Police guards and three servants who were paid by the Government.
Kagazi was the deputy secretary for Cabinet in the office of the President when Ali was appointed tourism and wildlife minister in 1986.
charge sheet amended
On the same day, the Director of Public Prosecutions, MacDusman Kabega, told court that the charge sheet had been amended and six alternative counts had been added on to it.
Between October 30 and November 28, Police officers Michael Kamparuza, Kuteesa and Fabian Byantalo, who searched Ali’s house, pinned the general.
They argued that Ali’s wife, Sarah, led them upstairs in their house where they recovered guns, in addition to those recovered from the residences of the bodyguards.
Jacob Asiimwe, the NRM secretariat administrator, was also a prosecution witness. He said Ali never got guns or guards from the secretariat but had maintained the ones he had when he joined the NRA, adding that they were yet to be formalised.
ali’s defence
On October 10, 1990, Ali, through his lawyer, Henry Kayondo, asked court to order the Police to avail him his personal file, or its copy. The file, Kayondo argued, had been confiscated during Ali’s arrest.
Kayondo submitted that the CID was holding Ali’s file, which contained vital information and documents on Kazini detailing the atrocities he had committed in West Nile while still in UNRF. “Before his arrest, my client had written to President Museveni about Kazini’s atrocities while in West Nile and was on his way to meet the President over the same.†Kayondo added that Ali’s confiscated file contained a letter to Museveni about the same issue.
Kayondo also said Kazini had manipulated investigations “so as to create a rift between his client (Ali) and President Museveni.†Kazini and Ali had had misunderstandings, according to Kayondo. He said the detention of his client at Lubiri military barracks gave the army an opportunity to interfere with investigations.
kazini denies
However, Kazini denied having any ill will against Ali or committing atrocities in West Nile. He said he knew Ali only as a minister. Kazini also denied knowledge of any file pinning him over the said atrocities.
Kazini said although he was in UNRF in 1981 before he joined NRA, he never knew Ali personally. “I never met him. I kept fighting with them in Madigo, Arua until we got defeated in 1983. After 1983, UNRF was disbanded and most of the men went to a refugee camp in Sudan. I left the camp and joined the bush war in Luwero in 1984.†On October 22, Ali denied all the six treason, terrorism and possession of arms charges, as amended by Kabega.
passports
Regarding passports, Kayondo told court that the applicants were students intending to travel to Pakistan for studies. He said Ali was helping needy students in West Nile to go for education abroad. Kayondo contended that it was unfair and a breach of law to search Ali’s residence in his absence.
On October 30, Kayondo told court that there were many inconsistencies in the evidence adduced by the State and asked Bamwite to dismiss all the charges.
He said Kamparuza could not ascertain the number of passports or bullets got from Ali’s house, the number of guards and the plot number of the residence. Kayondo added that the General’s wife, Sarah, had been forced to take the search team upstairs.
On December 20, the hearing of the case of illegal possession of firearms resumed and one of Ali’s wives, Sarah, said the sh3m that the search team took from their Kololo house was for buying fuel for one of their fuel stations in Adjumani. Sarah, 33, said they had requested Police for the money to buy food since their breadwinner (Ali) had been imprisoned; but Police said court had to first instruct them before they could release the money.
On December 5, 1990, Bamwite exonerated Ali on the counts of terrorism but stated that the brigadier had a case to answer on five counts of illegal possession of firearms. Bamwite said prosecution had failed to prove the terrorism charges beyond reasonable doubt, adding that the evidence given by Echaku and Kazini was hearsay.
But he stayed charges of illegal possession of firearms. On December 20, 1990, hearing of this case resumed and after a month, court found Ali guilty of three counts of illegal possession of firearms.
Magistrate Bamwite on January 7, 1991 sentenced Ali to two-and-a-half years in jail for illegally possessing two guns and 26 rounds of live ammunition.
Basing on evidence adduced by Echaku, Kazini and two Police officers Byantalo and Kamparuza, Bamwite told court: “there was no doubt that the former minister possessed the firearms.â€
Bamwite noted that whereas the bodyguards at Ali’s home and the guns they had were legally registered at the NRM secretariat, the two guns and 26 rounds of ammunition were not on record at the secretariat and there was no explanation for that. Each gun carried a count and the 26 bullets carried a count too.
About the argument by Ali’s lawyer that there was a break in the chain of evidence and the whereabouts of the other guns said to have been found in Ali’s residence, Bamwite said; “as the prosecution was able to identify the guns by a record taken during the search, there was no chance of the guns getting mixed up at any stage.â€
The magistrate said the list made during the search should have strengthened the origin of the guns, adding that the guns were moved from one place to another by the same officer who at all the stages ascertained that the guns were the same ones.
On the possibility that the accused possessed the guns as a soldier himself, Bamwite said the defence could not prove if the accused is a soldier yet the prosecution evidence showed that Ali was appointed as a civilian minister. Bamwite added that Ali failed to discharge the burden placed on him to explain the presence of guns in his residence.
“I therefore find the accused guilty of possession of two guns and 26 rounds of ammunition which constituted the third, fifth and eighth counts of the charge of firearms without a certificate and convict him to two-and-a-half years for each of the three counts, which he will serve concurrently,†Bamwite ruled.
The magistrate said before passing his judgment, he had taken into account the nine months Ali had spent on remand, that he was a first offender, had four women and 23 children to take care of, and had made historical contributions towards restoration of peace in Uganda. Ali was incarcerated until June 1992.
WHEN the military junta of Tito Okello Lutwa fell in 1986, Lt. Gen. Moses Ali, then a brigadier, joined the National Resistance Army (NRA, now UPDF), with over 1,000 Uganda National Rescue Front (UNRF) soldiers, whom he was leading.
President Yoweri Museveni, who had taken over power in 1986, welcomed Ali and incorporated his soldiers into the NRA. Ali was then appointed a tourism and wildlife minister before becoming a state minister for youth, culture and sports.
However, things took a different turn on April 7, 1990. Ali was arrested on treason and terrorism charges. He was held at Lubiri military barracks pending his trial before the Kampala Chief Magistrate, Edward Bamwite, started in October 1990.
ali in court
On October 10, prosecution led by State Attorney Semuka Mukomba, said Ali was arrested at the entrance to State House in Entebbe, when he was reportedly going to meet the President.
Mukomba said Ali, who had been promoted to brigadier, was accused of keeping supplies for rebels based in the DR Congo (then Zaire) and Adjumani. Mukomba told court that a file was recovered from Ali and it was part of the State exhibits in the case.
The Criminal Investigations Director, Samuel Echaku, said Ali was arrested following information that he was keeping military hardware to be supplied to the rebels in Zaire and Adjumani in Moyo to wage war against the NRM government.
echaku’s evidence
As a key witness in the case, Echaku told court on October 22 that his office received information in early 1990 that Ali was engaged in treasonable activities in Kampala.
Police detectives, he added, had been deployed to carry out surveillance on Ali’s movements and his alleged collaborators. Echaku said he also alerted the central brigade commander, James Kazini a lieutenant colonel at the time.
Echaku said as they came out of an April 7, security meeting at State House with Kazini, they found Ali at the entrance and asked the guards to arrest him.
However, Echaku denied that the decision to arrest Ali was taken during the State House meeting, arguing that it was just a coincidence. “I saw him in a telephone booth. It seemed as if he was talking on phone. So I waited and arrested him.†Ali was taken to Lubiri military barracks “for security reasonsâ€.
the gun
The following day (April 8), Echaku told court, he went with a contingent of Police officers, accompanied by the military, under Lt. Edward Kacumitana’s command, to search Ali’s residence in Kololo.
He said in the search, they found 16 guns, bullets, military uniforms (some of which were not for the Ugandan army), a seal, documents, cameras, films and 46 passports.
Echaku said because there were many guns, they concluded that Ali was involved in treason.
He added that they also got information that Ali intended to ferry the weapons to his farm in Adjumani from where rebels based in Zaire could access them and use them against Uganda.
When they consulted the NRM Secretariat to ascertain whether the items had been allocated to Ali, the officials reportedly said the brigadier was only entitled to some but not all of the guns.
Echaku said when detectives were sent to West Nile to determine whether the owners of the recovered passports were students as Ali argued, the alleged students denied having applied for the passports. “Some of them had no knowledge of the application procedure, while others were too old to go for studies,.â€
tough ali
Ali was detained at Lubiri barracks because they suspected that his supporters would rescue him from Police custody, according to Echaku.
The CID chief added that they did not search Ali’s residence in his presence because they deemed it dangerous to move him from Lubiri to Kololo ‘since his supporters and the many guards he had at home would rescue him’.
He continued that Ali, on March 17, 1990 at The Guide newspaper offices on Bombo Road, loaded a trailer with ammunition and drums of diesel and is said to have ferried them to Adjumani.
Court further heard that Ali supervised the loading of the arms with a pistol in his hand “to prevent people from coming near the scene.â€
Another witness who testified was Edward Kagazi, the acting permanent secretary in the Ministry of Relief and Social Rehabilitation.
He told court that Ali was entitled to only two Police guards and three servants who were paid by the Government.
Kagazi was the deputy secretary for Cabinet in the office of the President when Ali was appointed tourism and wildlife minister in 1986.
charge sheet amended
On the same day, the Director of Public Prosecutions, MacDusman Kabega, told court that the charge sheet had been amended and six alternative counts had been added on to it.
Between October 30 and November 28, Police officers Michael Kamparuza, Kuteesa and Fabian Byantalo, who searched Ali’s house, pinned the general.
They argued that Ali’s wife, Sarah, led them upstairs in their house where they recovered guns, in addition to those recovered from the residences of the bodyguards.
Jacob Asiimwe, the NRM secretariat administrator, was also a prosecution witness. He said Ali never got guns or guards from the secretariat but had maintained the ones he had when he joined the NRA, adding that they were yet to be formalised.
ali’s defence
On October 10, 1990, Ali, through his lawyer, Henry Kayondo, asked court to order the Police to avail him his personal file, or its copy. The file, Kayondo argued, had been confiscated during Ali’s arrest.
Kayondo submitted that the CID was holding Ali’s file, which contained vital information and documents on Kazini detailing the atrocities he had committed in West Nile while still in UNRF. “Before his arrest, my client had written to President Museveni about Kazini’s atrocities while in West Nile and was on his way to meet the President over the same.†Kayondo added that Ali’s confiscated file contained a letter to Museveni about the same issue.
Kayondo also said Kazini had manipulated investigations “so as to create a rift between his client (Ali) and President Museveni.†Kazini and Ali had had misunderstandings, according to Kayondo. He said the detention of his client at Lubiri military barracks gave the army an opportunity to interfere with investigations.
kazini denies
However, Kazini denied having any ill will against Ali or committing atrocities in West Nile. He said he knew Ali only as a minister. Kazini also denied knowledge of any file pinning him over the said atrocities.
Kazini said although he was in UNRF in 1981 before he joined NRA, he never knew Ali personally. “I never met him. I kept fighting with them in Madigo, Arua until we got defeated in 1983. After 1983, UNRF was disbanded and most of the men went to a refugee camp in Sudan. I left the camp and joined the bush war in Luwero in 1984.†On October 22, Ali denied all the six treason, terrorism and possession of arms charges, as amended by Kabega.
passports
Regarding passports, Kayondo told court that the applicants were students intending to travel to Pakistan for studies. He said Ali was helping needy students in West Nile to go for education abroad. Kayondo contended that it was unfair and a breach of law to search Ali’s residence in his absence.
On October 30, Kayondo told court that there were many inconsistencies in the evidence adduced by the State and asked Bamwite to dismiss all the charges.
He said Kamparuza could not ascertain the number of passports or bullets got from Ali’s house, the number of guards and the plot number of the residence. Kayondo added that the General’s wife, Sarah, had been forced to take the search team upstairs.
On December 20, the hearing of the case of illegal possession of firearms resumed and one of Ali’s wives, Sarah, said the sh3m that the search team took from their Kololo house was for buying fuel for one of their fuel stations in Adjumani. Sarah, 33, said they had requested Police for the money to buy food since their breadwinner (Ali) had been imprisoned; but Police said court had to first instruct them before they could release the money.
On December 5, 1990, Bamwite exonerated Ali on the counts of terrorism but stated that the brigadier had a case to answer on five counts of illegal possession of firearms. Bamwite said prosecution had failed to prove the terrorism charges beyond reasonable doubt, adding that the evidence given by Echaku and Kazini was hearsay.
But he stayed charges of illegal possession of firearms. On December 20, 1990, hearing of this case resumed and after a month, court found Ali guilty of three counts of illegal possession of firearms.
Magistrate Bamwite on January 7, 1991 sentenced Ali to two-and-a-half years in jail for illegally possessing two guns and 26 rounds of live ammunition.
Basing on evidence adduced by Echaku, Kazini and two Police officers Byantalo and Kamparuza, Bamwite told court: “there was no doubt that the former minister possessed the firearms.â€
Bamwite noted that whereas the bodyguards at Ali’s home and the guns they had were legally registered at the NRM secretariat, the two guns and 26 rounds of ammunition were not on record at the secretariat and there was no explanation for that. Each gun carried a count and the 26 bullets carried a count too.
About the argument by Ali’s lawyer that there was a break in the chain of evidence and the whereabouts of the other guns said to have been found in Ali’s residence, Bamwite said; “as the prosecution was able to identify the guns by a record taken during the search, there was no chance of the guns getting mixed up at any stage.â€
The magistrate said the list made during the search should have strengthened the origin of the guns, adding that the guns were moved from one place to another by the same officer who at all the stages ascertained that the guns were the same ones.
On the possibility that the accused possessed the guns as a soldier himself, Bamwite said the defence could not prove if the accused is a soldier yet the prosecution evidence showed that Ali was appointed as a civilian minister. Bamwite added that Ali failed to discharge the burden placed on him to explain the presence of guns in his residence.
“I therefore find the accused guilty of possession of two guns and 26 rounds of ammunition which constituted the third, fifth and eighth counts of the charge of firearms without a certificate and convict him to two-and-a-half years for each of the three counts, which he will serve concurrently,†Bamwite ruled.
The magistrate said before passing his judgment, he had taken into account the nine months Ali had spent on remand, that he was a first offender, had four women and 23 children to take care of, and had made historical contributions towards restoration of peace in Uganda. Ali was incarcerated until June 1992.