The Uganda Law Society (ULS) has condemned the disappearance of human rights activist Praise Aloikin and the extradition of Michael Katunji while his constitutional case was still pending, saying the two incidents show that constitutional safeguards are not being applied in practice.
Speaking at the 35th edition of the Radical New Bar weekly hybrid engagement on Thursday, October 1st, 2026, speakers said Aloikin was taken from Namungona Police Station to an unknown location and only produced at Central Police Station on Monday, September 28th, 2026.
She was later arraigned before the Buganda Road Chief Magistrate’s Court on a charge of unlawful use of another person’s SIM card, denied the charge and was remanded to Luzira Prison until October 14th, 2026.
Aol Sheila Splendor, Vice President of Women Leaders of Afrika, said the episode could not be treated as ordinary policing.
“These are claims to end the abduction,” she said, arguing that police have the power to arrest a suspect but should not allow a person to be taken away without lawyers or family knowing where she is being held.
She said Aloikin’s social media commentary, including remarks about the Chief of Defence Forces (CDF), amounted to an exercise of opinion protected by the Constitution.
“If we remain silent, it is going to kill us,” Splendor said, warning that arrests of vocal young activists were having a chilling effect on others.
The Uganda Law Society President, Isaac K. Ssemakadde noted that Katunji was surrendered to the United States on a Saturday even though a five-judge constitutional petition and an application for interim protection were pending, with a hearing apparently scheduled for the following Monday.
The petition challenged the extradition under the Extradition Act and Articles 20, 23, 42 and 44.
He traced the paralysis to the 2017 Mauritius ruling, which requires a full bench of five judges for all Constitutional Court matters, including interim applications.
Despite the expansion of the Court of Appeal and an increased budget, Ssemakadde noted that no standby panels or electronic hearings had been introduced for urgent liberty cases.
“The court is closed. The court is dead,” Ssemakadde said, calling for revised rules, duty rosters and restraint by the state once an interim application is filed.
