MPs Ssegirinya, Ssewanyana release puts Uganda Prisons authorities on the spotlight  

Uganda Prison authorities are on the spotlight following the ‘illegal’ release of the two Members of Parliament Muhammad Ssegirinya (Kawempe North) and Allan Ssewanyana (Makindye West) on Feb.13 from Kigo prison without following the proper legal procedures.

The two MPs are accused of being behind the spate of machete killings in Greater Masaka in mid-2021. They had spent 524 days in jail or approx.17 months without representing their voters.  

“…Johnson Byabashaija (Commissioner General of Prisons), Frank Baine (Spokesperson for Uganda Prisons) … you abused your office,” Lead Counsel for the two suspects, Erias Lukwago, who is also the Kampala Capital City Lord Mayor, said on Feb.12, a day after the two MPs were granted temporary freedom.

Lukwago had travelled alongside other lawyers and family members of the two MPs from Masaka High Court – where the two MPs bail application had been granted – to Kigo Prison, Wakiso district (Kampala) to deliver the release documents from court only to be told that the suspects had already been released and transported to places of their convenience.

Lukwago wondered how the release process had been done fast by prison authorities without receiving legal (release) documents from the lawyers.

“We are educated and are respected members of society…why would they treat us like that,” Lukwago said on NBS Television Morning Breeze programme on Feb.14.

Followers of this matter drew lines between the MPs’ release from prison and reports indicating that a section of opposition leaders had negotiated with President Yoweri Museveni and his junior officials in government to release the two MPs on certain terms and conditions.

As at Feb.18, the two MPs had not publically come out to speak about the circumstances that led to their fast release.   Not many opposition leaders had interacted with the suspects to ascertain details of their release. But it was reported that the MPs were being attended to by different medical doctors.  

The two MPs belong to the National Unity Platform (NUP). The NUP leader, Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu alias Bobi Wine, on Feb.16, broke his silence on the matter via his social media platforms.

“I am very happy that after such a long period of detention without trial, the two leaders are out of Kigo Prison on bail. I am very grateful to all leaders, lawyers and comrades who for the past one and a half years, have visited them in prison, attended court sessions, spoken out against their illegal detention, supported their families, prayed for them,” Bobi Wine said.

He however distanced himself from reports that are continuing to circulate in the media that the MPs release followed negotiations between the ruling government and the Opposition.

“Let me be categorical that I do not know about any such negotiations, and if anyone took part in any negotiations to secure court bail for detainees, they did so without my knowledge or endorsement,” Kyagulanyi, who contested as a presidential candidate in 2021 under NUP said.

As the public awaits details about this matter from the MPs or any other reliable source, the key questions remain: How did prison authorities release the suspects without proper documentation from court?  Where does this action leave the power of judiciary arm of government? How will the opposition emerge out of this limbo in case there were behind the curtain negotiations to release the duo? Will the MPs continue to check the excesses of ruling party amidst this confusion? Your guess to these questions is as good as ours. Let’s watch the space!