Special court session for Buganda riot suspects wanted

By Henry Sekanjako, John .S .Kato and Petride Mudoora

The Buganda Parliamentary caucus has asked government to arrange a special court session for hearing into a case against the 25 Buganda riot suspects that have been jailed at Luzira Prison since 2009.

The MPs expressed concern that the suspects had spent much time in Luzira without being tried which they said infringes on their rights.

Speaking at Luzira Prison on Thursday during a special visit to the suspects, the Vice chairperson, Buganda caucus Betty Nambooze said, the high court in Kampala needed to set a special day in which it should hear their case for a final ruling.

“These people have spent a lot of time here without being tried. We feel they have no case to answer but they are being detained for so long,” Nambooze said.

Patrick Nsanja (Ntenjeru South) said government has on several occasions failed to fix a hearing date into the accused’ case without giving a clear explanation.

“For three years, these people have been in prison. They will be acquitted and won’t be compensated,” Nsanja said.

Bbosa Kiyingi (Mawokota south) said: “What hearts me is that some of these people are sick but they cannot be given bail. We feel bad that justice has not been given to them”.

The caucus chairman Godfrey Kiwanda said they would table the issue before parliament for an explanation from government on why the accused have been kept in jail for a long time without being tried.

“What we want is government to take the suspects to court and deal with their case once and for all,” Kiwanda said.

The MPs however applauded the Prison’s authority for the good health of the suspects, saying many of them were looking good and healthy.

“We really thank the prisons for keeping these people so well at least they look healthy. And we thank the Prisons for that,” said Vincent Ssempija, (Kalungu East) who also doubles as the Buganda caucus publicity secretary.

Ssempija said the issue of Buganda riot suspects case should not be looked at as a tribal issue, but as a national one, since the suspects come from different regions of the country.

Meanwhile the MPs donated 50kgs of rice, 50kgs of sugar, 20liters of cooking oil and one sack of charcoal to the facility. They also promised to visit the suspects at least once in a week.