The interim president of the People’s Front for Freedom (PFF), Erias Lukwago, has faulted Museveni for contradicting the ruling of the Supreme Court on the subordinacy of the Court Martial to civilian courts.
In a letter dated Thursday, December 12, 2024, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni declared his support for the trial of civilians in the court martial, recognizing its role in addressing gun-related crimes.
According to Lukwago, the Supreme Court ruled that the courts of judicature have no entitlement to handle appeals from the General Court Martial decisions, adding that Museveni’s contradictory statement on the matter is a bold sign of a failed state.
He weighed in on President Museveni for his decision, which he termed as contradictory to the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on appeal handling.
On Wednesday, December 11, 2024, the Supreme Court issued jurisdictional boundaries between military and civilian courts, which prohibited military personnel from appealing their conviction in civil courts.
‘’General Museveni gives a diametrically contrary proclamation that the Court Martial system is subordinate to civilian courts,” Lukwago said.
In the clarification letter, Museveni explained that some civilians had started using military equipment such as guns to terrorize others, something that necessitated the parliament to enact the law in 2005 to try such elements in the court martial.
“This is why that law provided that since you became a soldier, albeit an illegal one, you should be tried by a court martial because it is the one that deals with guns. Besides, the court martial court’s system is a subordinate one to the general courts of the whole country. If the court martial judged badly, the superior courts will rectify the issue,” the statement read in part.
The recent arrest of opposition figure Dr. Kizza Besigye from Kenya by Ugandan military officers has dominated the public domain, where some of the prominent politicians in opposition have criticized it, citing rampant abuse of human rights and lack of rule of law.
