DP calls for protests against Museveni’s proposal to quash bail for murder suspects

KAMPALA, UGANDA: The opposition Democratic Party (DP) has called upon the public to protest the proposal fronted by president Museveni seeking to amend Article 23 (6) that guarantees the right to bail for all citizens.

Mr. Museveni, in a tense address at the Benedicto Kiwanuka Memorial Lecture at High Court Building last week, protested granting bail to murder suspects saying bail is not constitutional but instead, is used to sometimes provoke the public.

While addressing journalists at the party’s weekly press brief on Tuesday, the Democratic party spokesperson Okoler Opio Lo Amanu said the president is seeking to do something unconstitutional and Ugandans should not let him get away this time.

“We cannot keep silent when the discretionary power of judicial officers to make decisions independent of external interference is being quashed, let us all condemn it,” Opio said.

Opio invited what he called all the ‘right-thinking Ugandans, including religious leaders, politicians, cultural leaders, the media and all opinion leaders to condemn and thwart the president’s move.

President Museveni has severally said that granting bail at the discretion of judges is “provocation” to the offended communities that he said are certain to retaliate against suspects freed pending trial.

“Really! Somebody has killed a person and you see him walking around. That is a provocation I am telling you. It’s a provocation, we can’t accept it,” Museveni said at the 4th Benedicto Kiwanuka memorial lecture.

Opio said that the president’s words amount to interfering with the existing pillar of justice provided for under Article 128 of the Constitution, which provides for the independence of the Judiciary.

Quoting the German Pastor, Martin Niemoller’s popular statement, Opio said that Ugandans should not wait until no one is left to speak for them.

Niemoller famously said: “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”