Last week, five livid justices of the Constitutional court stunned Col Kizza Besigye with a never-before-heard judgment.
Instead of granting him the remedies he sought in a 2011 petition he lodged against police brutality, the justices ordered him to seek audience before his own court or before the ‘judge’, who inaugurated him as president of his People’s Government.
Still hurting, Besigye used the 15th anniversary celebrations of the opposition Forum for Democratic Change as a launch pad for his attack against the justices. Speaking at the National Stadium Namboole, the FDC founding president and four-time presidential candidate, said judges were taking sides in the political contestation between him and President Museveni.
‘Our judiciary has really degenerated, I didn’t know it has degenerated quite significantly, there is now increasing evidence. The judiciary is not a judiciary of the [ruling] regime. We fought against the [Apollo Milton] Obote government and when we won, the very morning we won on January 26 [1986] the chief justice under Obote government came to swear in [President] Museveni. He couldn’t say now go and bring your own judges to swear you in. Judges are judges of Uganda regardless of who appoints you. The constitution is very clear about it,” Besigye said.
Last week, the Constitutional court delivered its ruling in a case filed by Besigye in 2011 challenging provisions of the Penal Code, which stipulate a charge of unlawful assembly. This followed his numerous arrests as a result of his walk-to-work protests in 2011.
In a majority ruling written by Justice Kenneth Kakuru, with justices, Elizabeth Musoke, Cheborion Barishaki, Steven Musota and Geoffrey Kiryabwire forming the coram, the Constitutional court ruled that although they found the police actions of arresting people for unlawful assembly, illegal because the provisions offended the Constitution, Besigye was found in contempt of Supreme court orders.
The orders resulted from the Amama Mbabazi presidential election petition challenging the declaration of President Yoweri Museveni as winner of 2016 elections. The judges said they heard the merits of the petition and concluded that Museveni was the validly elected president.
However, the justices noted that Besigye defied the orders and went ahead to swear in himself as the legitimate president of Uganda, appointed a cabinet and national assembly known as “People’s Government.”
The justices noted that since Besigye argues that there is no validly elected government, it implies there are no legally constituted courts of law and therefore they can’t grant him the remedies he was seeking.
“I would, therefore, decline to grant him the remedies he seeks in the petition, maybe he will have to seek audience before his own court or before the ‘judge’, who swore him in as president,” the judgment read in part.
But using his 45-minute address, Besigye said this is the very reason pro-change forces should work very hard to bring change and rebuild institutions that have broken down under NRM’s 34-year rule.
“We must have another democratically made constitution that answers all our needs so that we have equal rights under the law. The constitution will give us new institutions and we must build those institutions including building the judiciary to become a judiciary of Uganda,” Besigye said.
Speaking at the same function, Conservative Party president John Ken Lukyamuzi said he was taken aback by the ruling. He said everything must be done to reverse it.
“The ruling was an embarrassment and an absurdity. People expected the Constitutional court in view of the circumstances [under which] Besigye filed the petition, to clarify the issues of human rights. But they were meandering here and there into the circus of obiter dictum [legal term for a non-essential opinion of a judge]. We can end by saying the Constitutional court did not have any judgement save for an obiter dictum and that is absurd. We must appeal this judgment because the precedent set by this court cannot coexist with nature and law,” Lukyamuzi said.
Kampala lord mayor Erias Lukwago said the ruling made clear their charge that no Ugandan court can hold the president to account, that’s why they opted to drag him to the International Criminal Court.
“The Constitutional court said we can seek audience from our own courts of law. It’s very absurd but we need to look at the flip side of it and see how to make use of that judgment however bad it is,” Lukwago said.
bakerbatte@observer.ug