Gov''t to give prosecutors protection

By Moses Walubiri & Henry Sekanjako

A day after unknown assailants gunned down assistant Director of Public Prosecutions, Joan Kagezi, Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Kahinda Otafire has revealed that government is set to offer protection to prosecutors handling terrorism-related and other high profile cases.

Kagezi, who has been the lead prosecutor in the July 2010 terror suspects' trial, was shot dead Monday evening by unknown hitmen riding a motorcycle near her home in Najjera, a Kampala suburb.

In a meeting with legislators on the Human Rights committee on Tuesday, Otafire, in response to concerns by the committee chairperson, Joviah Kamateka about Kagezi's murder, regretted what he described as "a tragic oversight".

"I have spoken with the Director of Public Prosecutions about this and we are going to put in place mechanisms to protect prosecutors," Otafire said.

Otafire told MPs that upon his appointment as minister of justice and constitutional affairs two years ago, his idea for the state to offer protection to prosecutors handling high profile cases was knocked back by the Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP).

"At that time, the thinking was that prosecutors did not face high security risks and selecting a few to offer them protection would have unnecessarily drawn attention to them. In hindsight, that was a tragic oversight," Otafire said.

However, Otafire, who is also the Ruhindi County MP, cautioned against jumping to conclusions about the identity of Kagezi's assailants, saying police is analyzing all possible clues.

"Ordinarily, one would be inclined to attribute her murder to the terrorism case she has been handling. But any rogue element might want to exploit the current circumstance and murder her for unknown reasons. Investigations have not lost sight of this possibility."

Citing the example of International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and justices at The Hague based court that are granted all round security, MP Kamateka decried Kagezi's murder, describing it as "avoidable."

During her visit to Uganda early this year, Bensouda moved with her security team.

Her meeting with Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga and other legislators was conspicuous for her security team tentatively taking over from Ugandan cops.

"From murder to terrorism, Kagezi has handled some of the most high profile cases in this country. By failing to give her protection, we have let her down as a country," Kamateka said.
 

Kagezi (second right) with her children Pearl (left), Philip (second left), Carol (third left) and Harvey (right). [Courtesy photo]

Shadow Attorney General, Abdu Katuntu, although in support of the mooted policy, said it's long overdue.

"It's a tragedy that a prosecutor of Kagezi's caliber could be left to walk on the street at night with her children unguarded. It's international practice to secure judges, prosecutors, witnesses and in some instances, defense attorney," Katuntu said, adding, "eliminating any of them sends terror to the judiciary."

In Uganda, only judges of courts of judicature (High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court) are given police protection.  However, in other jurisdictions, prosecutors are given police protection.

Elsewhere, last month, there was uproar in Argentina following the murder of special prosecutor Alberto Nisman, with the public blaming government for failure to offer him ironclad security.

Nisman was preparing to testify against President Fernandez de Kirchner in congress as part of his investigations in the 1994 Buenos Aires bombing of a Jewish center.



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