Ssegirinya, who is also known as “Mr. Update, is the jailed member of parliament for Kawempe North.
The trial of Muhammad Ssegirinya for allegedly inciting the public to violence on his Facebook page, “Ssegirinya Muhammad Fans Page”, had its first witness. The witness is the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC) news editor, Juliet Nayiga.
Muhammad Ssegirinya was in court via zoom from Kigo prison
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Nayiga took the stand to testify that Ssegirinya, on his Facebook page between August and September 2020 said, “I am warning those who are trying to assassinate Hon. Robert Kyagulanyi Sentamu that what will happen will be forty times worse than the 1994 Rwandan genocide”.
In the blood-soaked 100 days which started in April 1994, about 800,000 Rwandans were slaughtered in Rwanda reportedly by ethnic Hutu extremists calling themselves the Interahamwe (“those who work/ fight together”). They were targeting members of the minority Tutsi community, as well as their political opponents, irrespective of their ethnic origin.
Kyagulanyi, better known as Bobi Wine, is the president of the National Unity Platform (NUP).
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Kyagulanyi was the first runner up in the January 14th, 2021 Ugandan presidential elections. Ssegirinya is a member of NUP.
Buganda Grade Magistrate Siena Owomugisha, state prosecutors Peter Mugisha and Ivan Kyazze presented Nayiga as the first state witness.
Nayiga informed the court that the Managing Director of UBC radio assigned her to translate and transcribe the video footage of Ssegirinya allegedly inciting violence.
She then tendered before the court a letter from the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID) of the Uganda Police Force to the Managing Director of UBC Radio, in which police requested translation and transcription services.
However, Ssegirinya’s lawyers Asuman Basalirwa and Shamim Malende objected, saying the letter is inadmissible in court. According to the law, the two said, one cannot produce evidence from a document that was not addressed to them or they didn’t author.
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Basalirwa asked the court to reject the letter because the prosecution failed to share such evidence with the defence as required by due process and so this was prosecutorial misconduct. Also, they added, Nayiga was a third party who was unauthorised to tender such a letter to court.
However, the magistrate overruled Basalirwa’s submission and allowed Nayiga to continue with her testimony.
She then tendered the two video clips which were duly displayed on the television screens in court. In one of the video clips, Ssegirinya, who was in court via zoom from Kigo prison, is heard saying the exact words the state accused him of saying on the charge sheet.
However, during the defence’s cross-examination, Malende asked Nayiga to tell the court exactly the meaning of genocide in Luganda. Nayiga replied, “Kyemwalaba e Rwanda mu 1994”.
Nayiga’s translation dissolved the court into rippling laughter and then Ssegirinya’s lawyers concluded that she does not have the competence to translate or transcribe Luganda for UBC.
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The defence also poked holes in Nayiga’s submission, saying it was riddled with grammatical errors unworthy of her position as news editor.
The State later presented a police officer as their second witness. He, however, could not testify and the magistrate adjourned the matter to March 22nd, 2022.
