Lawyer Male Mabirizi has withdrawn his application seeking to halt the terrorism trial against Kawempe North MP Muhammad Ssegirinya and his Makindye West counterpart Allan Ssewanyana. Mabirizi cited bias and unequal treatment by the pretrial Judge Alice Komuhangi Khaukha in his withdrawal letter, which Uganda Radio Network has seen on court records, dated April 25th, 2023.
“It is better that a man should not be brought to Justice at all than that Justice should be done to him without the public being given the opportunity of seeing it done,” reads Mabirizi’s letter.
In 2021, Ssewanyana and Ssegirinya were indicted on charges of terrorism, murder, and attempted murder arising from the greater Masaka district in the wave of machete killings where more than 20 people died, and scores were left injured.
The legislators were charged with four others namely Jackson Kanyike, John Mugerwa, Bull Wamala, and Mike Sserwadda. While the group was committed to the International Crimes Division of the High Court to answer these charges, the MPs, who had additional charges of murder, had their files split, and one committed for trial before the Masaka High Court.
As a result, Mabirizi petitioned the Constitutional Court challenging the legality of splitting and distributing these files to two different courts, yet they result from one set of facts. He asked the Constitutional Court to nullify the accused person’s trial and declare it illegal, saying the legislators were being persecuted because of their political beliefs.
In 2022, Mabirizi filed an application seeking to halt the trial of the legislators pending the determination of his constitutional petition in the International Crimes Division. Now, it is this application that was pending a hearing next month that Mabirizi has withdrawn in his letter.
Mabirizi argued that Ssewanyana and Ssegirinya, who are legislators, are required by article 79(3) of the Constitution to protect the constitution and promote the democratic governance of Uganda.
He claimed that the legislators are being led into what he describes as a ‘legal suicide pact’ due to their vulnerability, which has made them succumb to mob rule by the judge and advocates.
According to Mabirizi, the Officer in charge of Uganda Prisons upper Luzira Bryan Corr Mbaziira and his Acting Deputy Simon Rubangakene intimidated Serwadda and Wamala, some of Ssegirinya’s co-accused, into signing a purported authorisation to oppose his application, which they agree with in principle.
“I have made a strategic, careful, and calculated decision to withdraw my application and instead dedicate our little time and resources to the more pressing rule of law callings pending a constitutional court hearing,” says Mabirizi. Mabirizi now says that he has hopes that his constitutional petition, which is still pending, will succeed.
When contacted, Turyamusiima, one of the defense lawyers in this case, said that Mabirizi has done the right thing to withdraw instead of getting a ruling that is not in his favor because his applications were baseless, not properly grounded, and not in line with the rules governing the International Crimes Division of the High Court.
Ssegirinya and Ssewanyana also filed an application for a stay of their trial pending their constitutional petition, which seeks related remedies like Mabirizi’s. And now, it is their application that is left for hearing in the International Crimes Division following this withdrawal.
