{UAH} AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT MUSEVENI (NOVEMBER 2021)

AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT MUSEVENI (NOVEMBER 2021)

Dear President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni Tibuhaburwa, the Leader of African "Revolutionaries"

By Atwemereireho Alex: a Lawyer and Researcher at The Alternative Uganda

I am writing this open letter to you in the knowledge that is not the normal method of communication between leaders especially of your stature, but as we are all aware that in my little capacity, it may take me time to reach your kingdom, I choose to use this space hoping against hopes that my letter will reach you for a deserved response. 

Your Excellency, I am writing to appeal to you to be considerate to the wishes of the people of Uganda and the provisions of the 1995 constitution, which you cherish so highly and to do the honorable thing by not scrapping or influence the removal of the bail provision from the constitution. 

My appeal to you Mr. President is necessitated by an unprecedented situation and the debate currently unfolding in Uganda concerning about the same. I do not need to educate you, for I am well looped that you have sufficient knowledge that, the right to bail is a fundamental constitutional right guaranteed by Article 23(6)[a] of the1995 Constitution of the Republic of Uganda. Where a person is arrested of a criminal offense the person is entitled to apply to court to be released on bail on such conditions as the court considers reasonable. It's basis is found in Article 28 of the same Constitution which states that an accused person is to be presumed innocent until he/she is proved or he/she pleads guilty. It also provides that an accused is entitled to a fair and speedy trial before an independent and impartial court or tribunal established by law. 

The above two principles are part of the right to a fair hearing which is declared to be inviolable by Article 44 of the Constitution. The idea is that a person presumed to be innocent and who is entitled to a speedy trial should not be kept behind the bars unnecessarily long before trial. This is the rationale of Article 23 (6) of the Constitution. 

Your Excellency, though the right to bail is a fundamental constitutional right, we can't fail to mention that in Uganda it has remained controversial since 2005. While the Constitution recognizes the right of an accused person to be released on bail, and the powers to release conferred on the Courts of Judicature, this power has many times been challenged or questioned by different stakeholders. There is therefore a need to create awareness and enhance shared understanding of this right in order to ensure that the rights of pre-trial detainees are not in any way compromised as we continue to witness today. 

The people of Uganda have for a long time been subjected to untold suffering as a result of poor governance under your stewardship which has diverted from it's original course of constitutionalism and democratic governance perpetuated by your security agencies which are partisan in nature and continue to suppress the voice of reason using the state machinery provided it goes against the wishes of your reign. 

Through conspiracy with the majority NRM legislators, you have tampered with our grand norm several times in the past by altering and amending different provisions of the Constitution fore example 2005, removal of term limits, Article 102[b], on age limit, among others to consolidate power, but this time do for us one honorable act by leaving the bail provision untampered. It is therefore my conviction that by not tampering with the bail provision, will keep our country intact and save the situation jumping from frying pan to the fire. 

I therefore reiterate my appeal to you to honorably consider your decision of peddle influencing the removal of bail provision, since you are the Omega and Alpha of this country Uganda, we all call motherland at the moment. if you really care for Uganda, as you profess, and if you cannot find it in you to do so, then as a Christian do so in the spirit of our Divine Providence in order to usher in a new period of going forward in unity, peace and prosperity for Ugandans and allow your country to be the powerhouse it is capable of being.

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