Atubo: From treason suspect to lands minister
By the time the judge declared him not guilty, the now lands minister had spent months behind bars in the Luzira Maximum Prison. Daniel Omara Atubo had been charged with sedition and treason.
By Edward Anyoli
By the time the judge declared him not guilty, the now lands minister had spent months behind bars in the Luzira Maximum Prison. Daniel Omara Atubo had been charged with sedition and treason.
SEDITION
Atubo was charged with uttering seditious statement at a fundraising in Otuke, Lira in July 1990, while an opposition parliamentarian. He is alleged to have said it was useless to carry out fundraising activities for Lango College, when all the institutions for which he had fundraised in his Otuke constituency, had been overrun by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA)rebels.
Atubo, was further alleged to have said thousands of people from Otuke were fleeing for their lives, following rebel attacks. He added that the National Resistance Army (now Uganda People’s Defence Forces) had been warned of an impending attack but it did not bother to do anything to stop the LRA from wrecking havoc.
The utterances, according to the prosecution, were made in the presence of Lt. Col. Walter Ochora. Atubo also allegedly stated that the army had intended to let rebels overrun Ngetta National Teachers’ College. Some students were abducted during the attack. Atubo allegedly added that the National Resistance Movement had a malicious agenda for the Langi.
Prosecution, led by the principle state attorney, Richard Lubowa, argued that Atubo’s allegation had brought contempt and hatred against the Government. Prosecution also argued that for Atubo to have stated that it was useless to carry out fundraising activities because all the institutions had been overrun by the rebels, clearly brought out disaffection on the part of the Government for having left the institutions unprotected. Lubowa said the statement was seditious against the Government.
He added that Atubo’s utterances about the attack on Ngetta National Teachers’ College also brought out seditious intention of inciting people of Lango against the Government, by implying that the army intended to let rebels overrun a Government institution and abduct students.
DEFENCE
Atubo’s lawyer, Remmy Kasule, said the charge sheet was defective because it did not indicate exactly who was being hated.
Kasule argued that the statement was not seditious but rather pointed out that one of the Government departments was doing something wrong. Kasule said it was erroneous for the prosecution to say the statement incited the people of Lango against the Government.
He submitted that it was a cardinal principle of a democratic society to allow freedom of expression, saying the words uttered were mere criticisms of a given situation. He told the Chief Magistrate, Robert Ogwal, at the Lira Magistrate’s Court that the case was being prosecuted out of time when the statutory six months within which to prosecute the case had passed.
RULING
Ogwal said the issue that should have been answered was whether the words on the charge sheet sufficiently informed Atubo about the offence he committed, according to the Penal Code.
Ogwal said for seditious intention to be established, it had to be shown that the words uttered brought the person of the President or he Government into disrepute. “I therefore believe that for Atubo to be informed clearly that the words he is alleged to have uttered on two separate occasions, it has to be shown that the words had effect of bringing hatred. The charge unfortunately is silent on this requirement.â€
The magistrate ruled that the charges were unconstitutional because they infringed on the rights of the individual’s freedom of expression. He concurred with defence lawyer Kasule that it was wrong to charge Atubo. “For the above reasons, I found it proper and just to acquit the accused person of the seditious charges.â€
TREASON CASE
Just as the sedition trial was about to be concluded, a treason charge was preferred against Atubo and 17 others. The treason charge included veteran politicians like Tiberio Okeny, Andrew Adimola, Zachary Olum and Irene Apio, all members of the National Resistance Council (NRC). The NRC was the first parliament under the National Resistance Movement and it was composed of persons elected on individual merit.
According to the prosecution, Atubo and the others reportedly met in different places in Apac, Gulu, Kitgum and Lira districts in 1991 and plotted to overthrow the Government. In the course of their stay on remand, Atubo and the co-accused petitioned the High Court, challenging their delayed trial and sought to have their charges dropped.
The suspects argued that the charge sheet was vague and defective because it did not contain overt act, which constitutes the offence of treason. But their appeal was rejected by Justice Wilson Kityo.
“If that was not the case, there is absolutely no justification to deny them the right to be informed of the charges against them by showing the overt acts that each of them is alleged to have committed to warrant arrest and treason charges,†Kasule told Justice Kityo.
Kasule added that the charge against Atubo was victimisation, not treason. The lawyer submitted that the delay in completion of investigations and detention without trial of the treason suspects had proved that the State had no case against them.
After spending months on remand, in January 1992, when the suspects appeared in Buganda Road Court, State Attorney, Eldad Mwangusya, told court that the Director of Public Prosecution had decided to discontinue proceedings against Atubo and his co-accused.
WHO IS HE
THE 1991 treason and sedition charges were not new to Omara Atubo. He had been arrested twice during Amin’s regime.
Atubo, a long-serving politician, has represented Otuke constituency in the Parliament for about 20 years. He first became MP in 1996 but before that, he was a member of the National Resistance Council between 1989 and 1996 and a Constituent Assembly delegate between 1994 and 1995.
He was born in 1947 at Ngetta Catholic Mission in Lira district. Atubo’s father served as a Religious Education teacher at the Mission with Italian missionaries. He started his primary education in 1955 in Ngetta Primary School, emerging as the best pupil in the Primary Leaving Examinations. Atubo was awarded a scholarship to Aloi Junior Secondary School in Lira district, and later went to St. Mary’s College, Kisubi where he completed his A’levels in 1969.
He joined Makerere University and graduated with a Bachelor of Law in 1972.
At Makerere, he was a leader in Livingstone Hall and the chairman of National Union of Students in Uganda. After graduation, he joined the Ministry of Justice, eventually becoming a Senior State Attorney.
Atubo also worked as an advocate for Kampala City Council, before fleeing to exile during Amin’s regime. He first went to Kenya, but ended up in Tanzania, where he became a senior Law lecturer at Moshi Cooperative College.
When Amin was overthrown and Yusuf Lule was elected president, he returned to Uganda. Before joining active politics, Atubo went into private practice, as a lawyer, eventually becoming a secretary at Bank of Uganda. President Museveni appointed him the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs in1987.
In March 1991, he was arrested with other prominent leaders in the north on the orders of Gen. David Tinyefuza, for allegedly sabotaging the war against LRA. However, he was released in 1992.
He was again arrested in 1999, over allegations of being part of the Citizens Army for Multiparty Politics rebel group, said to have been led by the late Brig. Smith Opon Acak. However, he was released soon after.
In 2005, during the UPC primaries, he lost, but later stood as an independent candidate, eventually winning to retain his seat.
Despite many years of being a strong critic of Museveni’s government, the father of 10 signed a memorandum of understanding after 2006 elections, agreeing to work with the Government he once opposed. Atubo is a happily married man.
Compiled by B. Okiror and E. Anyoli
What is sedition, treason?
Sedition implies doing, saying or carrying anything that brings hatred or contempt or excites disaffection against the President and the Government. It can also mean anything that brings disaffection against the administration of justice.
Under section 40 of the Penal Code, a person found guilty of sedition can be sent to jail for up to five years or made to pay a fine of sh50,000 or both. A person who is found guilty of sedition for a second time faces up to seven years in prison.
Currently, the sedition law is being challenged by Andrew Mwenda, the Editor of The Independent political magazine, in the Constitutional Court. Mwenda, who is facing sedition charges, filed a petition, challenging the constitutionality of section 40 of the Penal code. He says the section contravenes freedom of speech. However, the Court is yet to make a ruling.
Other people currently facing sedition charges are former Observer political editor, Ibrahim Ssemujju, MP Hussein Kyanjo, DP publicist Betty Namboze, MP Beti Kamya and former talkshow host, Kalundi Serumaga. Their cases have been put on halt until the constitutionality of sedition is determined by the constitutional court.
TREASON
Treason means capturing power or intending to do so through unconstitutional means such as using the force of arm, recruiting rebels to over throwing the Government and expressing support to a rebel group. Under section 23 of the penal code, any person found guilty of treason can be given a death sentence.
Any person who knowingly refuses to give information to the Police, magistrate, administrative officer, or any other relevant authority about treason commits the offence of treason, under section 25 of the Penal Code any person found guilty of concealment of treason is liable to life imprisonment.
In 2005, Dr. Kizza Besigye and 22 others were charged with treason and remanded to Luzira Prison. The trial started at the High Court but the case was never concluded. Some of the treason suspects applied for amnesty and were pardoned by the Amnesty Commission. Other suspects still have their case pending in court.
By the time the judge declared him not guilty, the now lands minister had spent months behind bars in the Luzira Maximum Prison. Daniel Omara Atubo had been charged with sedition and treason.
SEDITION
Atubo was charged with uttering seditious statement at a fundraising in Otuke, Lira in July 1990, while an opposition parliamentarian. He is alleged to have said it was useless to carry out fundraising activities for Lango College, when all the institutions for which he had fundraised in his Otuke constituency, had been overrun by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA)rebels.
Atubo, was further alleged to have said thousands of people from Otuke were fleeing for their lives, following rebel attacks. He added that the National Resistance Army (now Uganda People’s Defence Forces) had been warned of an impending attack but it did not bother to do anything to stop the LRA from wrecking havoc.
The utterances, according to the prosecution, were made in the presence of Lt. Col. Walter Ochora. Atubo also allegedly stated that the army had intended to let rebels overrun Ngetta National Teachers’ College. Some students were abducted during the attack. Atubo allegedly added that the National Resistance Movement had a malicious agenda for the Langi.
Prosecution, led by the principle state attorney, Richard Lubowa, argued that Atubo’s allegation had brought contempt and hatred against the Government. Prosecution also argued that for Atubo to have stated that it was useless to carry out fundraising activities because all the institutions had been overrun by the rebels, clearly brought out disaffection on the part of the Government for having left the institutions unprotected. Lubowa said the statement was seditious against the Government.
He added that Atubo’s utterances about the attack on Ngetta National Teachers’ College also brought out seditious intention of inciting people of Lango against the Government, by implying that the army intended to let rebels overrun a Government institution and abduct students.
DEFENCE
Atubo’s lawyer, Remmy Kasule, said the charge sheet was defective because it did not indicate exactly who was being hated.
Kasule argued that the statement was not seditious but rather pointed out that one of the Government departments was doing something wrong. Kasule said it was erroneous for the prosecution to say the statement incited the people of Lango against the Government.
He submitted that it was a cardinal principle of a democratic society to allow freedom of expression, saying the words uttered were mere criticisms of a given situation. He told the Chief Magistrate, Robert Ogwal, at the Lira Magistrate’s Court that the case was being prosecuted out of time when the statutory six months within which to prosecute the case had passed.
RULING
Ogwal said the issue that should have been answered was whether the words on the charge sheet sufficiently informed Atubo about the offence he committed, according to the Penal Code.
Ogwal said for seditious intention to be established, it had to be shown that the words uttered brought the person of the President or he Government into disrepute. “I therefore believe that for Atubo to be informed clearly that the words he is alleged to have uttered on two separate occasions, it has to be shown that the words had effect of bringing hatred. The charge unfortunately is silent on this requirement.â€
The magistrate ruled that the charges were unconstitutional because they infringed on the rights of the individual’s freedom of expression. He concurred with defence lawyer Kasule that it was wrong to charge Atubo. “For the above reasons, I found it proper and just to acquit the accused person of the seditious charges.â€
TREASON CASE
Just as the sedition trial was about to be concluded, a treason charge was preferred against Atubo and 17 others. The treason charge included veteran politicians like Tiberio Okeny, Andrew Adimola, Zachary Olum and Irene Apio, all members of the National Resistance Council (NRC). The NRC was the first parliament under the National Resistance Movement and it was composed of persons elected on individual merit.
According to the prosecution, Atubo and the others reportedly met in different places in Apac, Gulu, Kitgum and Lira districts in 1991 and plotted to overthrow the Government. In the course of their stay on remand, Atubo and the co-accused petitioned the High Court, challenging their delayed trial and sought to have their charges dropped.
The suspects argued that the charge sheet was vague and defective because it did not contain overt act, which constitutes the offence of treason. But their appeal was rejected by Justice Wilson Kityo.
“If that was not the case, there is absolutely no justification to deny them the right to be informed of the charges against them by showing the overt acts that each of them is alleged to have committed to warrant arrest and treason charges,†Kasule told Justice Kityo.
Kasule added that the charge against Atubo was victimisation, not treason. The lawyer submitted that the delay in completion of investigations and detention without trial of the treason suspects had proved that the State had no case against them.
After spending months on remand, in January 1992, when the suspects appeared in Buganda Road Court, State Attorney, Eldad Mwangusya, told court that the Director of Public Prosecution had decided to discontinue proceedings against Atubo and his co-accused.
WHO IS HE
THE 1991 treason and sedition charges were not new to Omara Atubo. He had been arrested twice during Amin’s regime.
Atubo, a long-serving politician, has represented Otuke constituency in the Parliament for about 20 years. He first became MP in 1996 but before that, he was a member of the National Resistance Council between 1989 and 1996 and a Constituent Assembly delegate between 1994 and 1995.
He was born in 1947 at Ngetta Catholic Mission in Lira district. Atubo’s father served as a Religious Education teacher at the Mission with Italian missionaries. He started his primary education in 1955 in Ngetta Primary School, emerging as the best pupil in the Primary Leaving Examinations. Atubo was awarded a scholarship to Aloi Junior Secondary School in Lira district, and later went to St. Mary’s College, Kisubi where he completed his A’levels in 1969.
He joined Makerere University and graduated with a Bachelor of Law in 1972.
At Makerere, he was a leader in Livingstone Hall and the chairman of National Union of Students in Uganda. After graduation, he joined the Ministry of Justice, eventually becoming a Senior State Attorney.
Atubo also worked as an advocate for Kampala City Council, before fleeing to exile during Amin’s regime. He first went to Kenya, but ended up in Tanzania, where he became a senior Law lecturer at Moshi Cooperative College.
When Amin was overthrown and Yusuf Lule was elected president, he returned to Uganda. Before joining active politics, Atubo went into private practice, as a lawyer, eventually becoming a secretary at Bank of Uganda. President Museveni appointed him the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs in1987.
In March 1991, he was arrested with other prominent leaders in the north on the orders of Gen. David Tinyefuza, for allegedly sabotaging the war against LRA. However, he was released in 1992.
He was again arrested in 1999, over allegations of being part of the Citizens Army for Multiparty Politics rebel group, said to have been led by the late Brig. Smith Opon Acak. However, he was released soon after.
In 2005, during the UPC primaries, he lost, but later stood as an independent candidate, eventually winning to retain his seat.
Despite many years of being a strong critic of Museveni’s government, the father of 10 signed a memorandum of understanding after 2006 elections, agreeing to work with the Government he once opposed. Atubo is a happily married man.
Compiled by B. Okiror and E. Anyoli
What is sedition, treason?
Sedition implies doing, saying or carrying anything that brings hatred or contempt or excites disaffection against the President and the Government. It can also mean anything that brings disaffection against the administration of justice.
Under section 40 of the Penal Code, a person found guilty of sedition can be sent to jail for up to five years or made to pay a fine of sh50,000 or both. A person who is found guilty of sedition for a second time faces up to seven years in prison.
Currently, the sedition law is being challenged by Andrew Mwenda, the Editor of The Independent political magazine, in the Constitutional Court. Mwenda, who is facing sedition charges, filed a petition, challenging the constitutionality of section 40 of the Penal code. He says the section contravenes freedom of speech. However, the Court is yet to make a ruling.
Other people currently facing sedition charges are former Observer political editor, Ibrahim Ssemujju, MP Hussein Kyanjo, DP publicist Betty Namboze, MP Beti Kamya and former talkshow host, Kalundi Serumaga. Their cases have been put on halt until the constitutionality of sedition is determined by the constitutional court.
TREASON
Treason means capturing power or intending to do so through unconstitutional means such as using the force of arm, recruiting rebels to over throwing the Government and expressing support to a rebel group. Under section 23 of the penal code, any person found guilty of treason can be given a death sentence.
Any person who knowingly refuses to give information to the Police, magistrate, administrative officer, or any other relevant authority about treason commits the offence of treason, under section 25 of the Penal Code any person found guilty of concealment of treason is liable to life imprisonment.
In 2005, Dr. Kizza Besigye and 22 others were charged with treason and remanded to Luzira Prison. The trial started at the High Court but the case was never concluded. Some of the treason suspects applied for amnesty and were pardoned by the Amnesty Commission. Other suspects still have their case pending in court.