Lawyer to embattled Kawempe North and Makindye West legislators have spoken out on the meeting between the Deputy Speaker of parliament Anita Among, Security Minister Maj. Gen. Jim Muhwezi and senior Internal Affairs Minister Kahinda Otafiire concerning their continued stay in prison despite being granted bail by court.
Credible sources in parliament intimated to theGrapevine that last week, there was a secret meeting summoned by Among to negotiate a deal to have the two embattled legislators released on bail.
Sources that attended the meeting added that the opposition leadership ran to Among for help after parliament Speaker Jacob Oulanyah dismissed their prayer for parliament to intervene and save the legislators.
Last week, Oulanyah told Members of Parliament that parliament was not ready to intervene into Ssegirinya and Ssewanyana troubles.
The speaker only promised to go and visit these MPs in Kigo prison.
The speaker also asked parliament to leave the security agencies to investigate the alleged offences slapped on these legislators for the interest of justice and fairness.
However, sources in parliament held that opposition leaders in parliament were not happy with Oulanyah’s decision and decided to run his deputy who is a very good friend to both legislators, especially Ssegirinya.
The source said that before meeting both ministers, Among first talked to president Museveni about the issue. The president referred him to Muhwezi and Otafiire since they were the ones closely handling the issue of greater Masaka murders.
The source further told theGrapevine that Among tried to convince the ministers on the positives in releasing the legislators on bail including creating a good relationship with the opposition especially the radical National Unity Platform (NUP).
She further told the ministers that releasing legislators on bail does not mean that they will dodge prosecution since they will be coming from their homes.
However, the source disclosed that both Otafiire and Muhwezi disagreed with Among’s explanation.
They told her that the Masaka murders put government in bad light given that they caused a lot of insecurity yet Ugandans want peace.
Gen. Muhwezi told Among that security agencies especially UPDF is very serious in fighting the ongoing criminality in the country especially after these criminals targeted Gen. Edward Katumba Wamala, their very own and killed his daughter Brendah Nantongo Katumba and driver Sgt. Haruna Kayondo.
He further told her that if these legislators are released, it will weaken the morale of the security operatives investigating these murders.
The source added that Gen. Otafiire even wondered why the speaker did not plead to have all the suspects in this matter granted bail and instead concentrated on only the two legislators.
The matter was not resolved and a decision was taken to refer it to the president for a final decision.
On Wednesday, president Museveni blasted judges for granting bail to murder suspects and promised to meet with NRM Members of Parliament to resolve the matter even if it will need a referendum.
When contacted, Abubaker Ssekanjako, one of the lawyers representing Ssewanyana and Ssegirinya neither confirmed nor denied knowledge of any meeting between opposition leadership in parliament seeking assistance from the deputy speaker of parliament.
“I don’t know whether any of our members went to the speaker for assistance. What I know, a number of plans were made to save our brothers but we decided to concentrate on legal matters and that’s why we applied for bail which was successfully granted,” Ssekanjako said.
He added that they have fulfilled all the requirements put in place by Masaka High Court Judge Victoria Nakintu Nkwanga to make sure that their people are granted bail, including paying a cash bail of Shs. 20m and depositing the passports of the accused at the High Court Crimes Division Kampala.
On Monday both legislators were granted bail but up to Friday evening they were not released from prison as directed by the Judge.
They are battling with murder, attempted murder, terrorism and abetting terrorism charges.
By Sengooba Alirabaki
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