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The government of Uganda through the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs has at last provided a key update on Col Dr Kizza Besigye, revealing that he will appear before the High Court tomorrow, Wednesday, February 19.
Hon Mao told the house that Dr Besigye and his colleague Obeid Kamulegeya were supposed to be brought to court today but that the matter was pushed to Wednesday, following engagements with their lawyers and court.
“We have finally responded and I wish to inform this house that by the time we reached out to the court, the lawyers of Col Kizza Besigye had actually been engaging with the judiciary and they agreed to reschedule the matter which had been fixed for Tuesday.
“It will now come tomorrow and during that sitting the court will give the appropriate direction and they will definitely abide by the (Supreme Court) decree.
The Supreme Court on January 31 declared the trial of all civilians before the military courts as unconstitutional and ordered all ongoing cases to be transferred to civilian courts.
Hon Mao informed Parliament that the court had insisted on the decree “in order not to appear to overrule the Supreme Court.”
Minister Mao’s confirmation followed an impromptu meeting called by Speaker Anitah Among in the middle of the plenary session.
The speaker raised the matter first in her initial communication to the house, sparking a heated response from mostly opposition MPs led by LOP Joel Ssenyonyi
At first, Among suspended the house for 10 minutes, for a private meeting between her, the leader of government business, the leader of the opposition, Ministers Mao and David Muhoozi, Deputy Attorney General Jackson Kafuuzi, as well as other MPs on the opposition side.
During the meeting, the speaker sent Hon Mao together with Kafuuzi and Muhoozi for another meeting to get a final update on when Dr Besigye’s case would finally be transferred grom the army court.