Kampala, Uganda: The Uganda Law Society (ULS) has raised concern over new High Court case management directions in an application filed by retired Col Dr Kizza Besigye and Hajji Obeid Lutale, warning that the Judiciary is drifting towards what it describes as “opaque e-justice” that threatens the constitutional rights to a fair hearing and open justice.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, July 21, 2026, ULS President Isaac Ssemakadde, S.C., lashed out at the electronic case management timelines issued by Acting High Court Judge Simon Peter M. Kinobe in High Court Criminal Miscellaneous Application No. 0248 of 2026, arguing that they place remand prisoners at a significant disadvantage while favouring state institutions.
The concerns follow a July 17 communication from the Criminal Division of the High Court informing Dr Besigye and Lutale that their application had been allocated to Justice Kinobe. The accompanying case management directions require the applicants to serve the respondents by July 20, with subsequent affidavits and written submissions to be filed on tight deadlines before the court delivers its ruling on August 13, 2026.
Ssemakadde said the court’s directions represent “a troubling acceleration toward opaque e-justice”, arguing that imposing strict electronic filing deadlines through the Electronic Court Case Management Information System (ECCMIS) on prisoners who lack access to computers, internet services, stationery, legal counsel or clerical support “has institutionalised unequal justice and severely undermined open justice.”
The Law Society chief further argued that requiring incarcerated applicants to comply with rigid electronic timelines while facing respondents with access to full state resources violates the constitutional guarantee of equality before the law.
“It is untenable to require incarcerated Applicants to serve documents by close of business on Monday, 20 July 2026… while the Respondents, a senior army official and the Attorney General, enjoy the full resources of the State. This violates the right to a fair hearing and the principle of equality of arms under Article 28(1) of the Constitution,” Ssemakadde wrote.
He also faulted the court for relying almost entirely on written electronic proceedings in a case involving personal liberty, saying the directions failed to provide for a pre-hearing scheduling conference that could have addressed the practical challenges facing the applicants.
According to Ssemakadde, the directions also fail to guarantee meaningful public and media access to proceedings and court records, contrary to constitutional provisions on open justice.
“There are no explicit protections for public and media access to proceedings and records… This risks turning the administration of justice into a closed, insider-driven process invisible to the public,” he stated.
The Law Society statement further criticised the absence of contingency measures for power outages, internet disruptions or system failures, warning that an unchecked transition to a paperless court system without adequate constitutional safeguards could erode confidence in the administration of justice.
“The Uganda Law Society warns that the unchecked pursuit of a paperless regime, without robust constitutional safeguards, is creating a dangerous architecture of opaque justice that is convenient for the powerful but destructive to the rule of law,” Ssemakadde said.
Incidentally, the ULS called on Justice Kinobe to review the case management directions by relaxing the timelines to guarantee meaningful access to justice for the applicants, the public and the media.
It also urged the Judiciary to rescind the Chief Justice’s Administrative Circular No. 1 of 2026 and replace it with fresh practice directions that place open justice, fair hearing and equality of arms above administrative efficiency.
Besigye and Lutale deny the treason charges against them. Prosecutors allege that between 2003 and November 2024, they and others still at large plotted in Uganda, Kenya, Greece and Switzerland to overthrow the government by force of arms.
The case remains one of Uganda’s most closely watched criminal prosecutions, with disputes over bail, witness disclosure, legal representation and trial management continuing alongside the substantive treason charges.
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