A former Prime Minster and a former Inspector General of Police are remembered for having been the silent movers of unconstitutional decisions on bail and police bond. Sadly, both were knowledgeable in human rights yet behind the scenes, they were misadvising the President. As karma would have it, one of them was arrested and invoked the law on bail.
There is an old proverb “as you make your bed, so you must lie in it”. This saying is what I would think of when I had Museveni making irrational orders on Police bond and the same time engaging the judiciary to deny specific suspects a right to bail. Museveni does not know that even at his old age, he will one day seek a police bond or bail.
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As a sitting President, Museveni needs to reflect on what might befall him in future in case he lost power through any of the available means. The saying above is a polite reminder that if you do the little things right, it makes the big things possible and if you do them wrong, one day you will look back and regret when you come face to face with what you prepared for others.
I am one among millions of Ugandans who have become weary and stopped listening or watching President Yoweri Museveni’s addresses. Besides being too long, his addresses often end up creating diversionary controversies in the public domain. Are these speeches written for him or he is the one who writes his scripts and only gives his handlers to edit?
With hundreds of presidential advisers and a team of lawyers, I don’t think the President is not aware that a police bond is a constitutional right and not a privilege as he wants us to believe. No doubt Museveni’s unlawful directive contradicts Article 23, 28(3)(a) and 99 of the Constitution of Uganda 1995 which guarantees individual rights to liberty and fair trial protect.
Museveni should be reminded that the framers of the constitution were aware of such sentiments from a sitting President abusing their powers and taking irrational decisions in order to cripple his opponents. The people that the President is calling thieves are only thieves in theory; the law looks at them differently; for they are innocent until they plead or until they are proved guilty.
Besides, the Human Rights (Enforcement) Act which places personal liability on individual police officers who violate the law on human rights. Sections 10, 11, 12, 14 and 15 are very clear and emphatic on this subject. In a country where the police first arrest and then take their time to investigate, we cannot afford to allow the president do as he pleases.
Above all, the Police are governed by the Police Act which provides in Section 38 (1) (a) for the right to a police bond. A police bond is a guarantee that a person arrested and taken to a police station will appear when required by the police. In theory, it is supposed to be free of charge but in practice the Police take money from suspects or their relatives. The purpose is to give police time to carry out further investigations after holding a suspect for 48 hours.
Hours after the President had made his illegal orders, the institution of the Uganda Police through its mouth piece quickly responded saying the presidential directive is not negotiable and as police, they are ready to enforce the same with immediate effect. Well, I don’t think the overly excited Kituuma Rusoke knows the consequences of his utterances in a modern day democracy.
Kituuma needs to be reminded that the President is not law; he has no right to break or bend the law unless it is a decree. Kituuma’s argument that territorial commanders will speed up the process of investigation is wishful thinking. Should the Police go ahead to implement the illegal directives, the judiciary should brace itself for worst case back log ever regarding human rights.
A president who hates his people so much that he goes through the judiciary to direct junior judicial officers not to grant bail and again orders the Police to deny suspects a police bond raises serious legal questions. What exactly is his intention and what does the President anticipate as the outcome? Those who know you know but I believe the outcome will be fatal.
Whereas the President seems to have misdirected his anger towards the managers of his failed parish development model, the directive is an open cheque to the police and is prone to abuse. Laws cannot be implemented selectively in a country that claims to uphold the rule of law. Some of these orders have the potential to erode legal protection and democratic freedoms in Uganda as the country prepares to go into the 2026 national campaigns.
The address and the threats could lead to misuse of police powers to detain individuals and political opponents beyond the statutory period citing the president’s directive. The President cannot talk about having fought the big criminals and that his crusade for a crime free society is being frustrated by the village thieves like those managing the Parish Development Model.
In his end-of-the-year address to the nation on Tuesday 31, 2024, the President directed police not to free any suspected village thieves on police bond, saying that any police personnel that defies his orders will be held fully accountable. Under a police bond, the police officer in charge of a police station has power to release a person taken into custody if it is not practicable to take that person to court within 48 hours of arrest.
On the petty crime, he mentioned coffee theft which has seen the increase in the harvest of raw coffee beans which in turn is affecting Uganda coffee quality on the international market. He said that the farmers were rushing to pick the beans so that they get them before thieves steal the coffee from the gardens. He warned that if the local security and police failed to combat this crime, he will be forced to deploy the army and the Local Defense Unit personnel.
The President also said he had “asked” the judiciary through the Chief Justice as opposed to requested the judiciary to stop giving bail to suspected criminals on trial. He bragged how his government had succeeded in stopping major incidents like killings by armed elements such as the Allied Democratic Front rebels, as well as murders done by hired hitmen.
According to the President, his achievements were being reversed by crimes like theft and that it is his duty as Commander in Chief to take action and as such he banned issuance of bond commonly referred to as Police Form No.18. “I have asked the Chief Judge to stop court bail for such people. But for police, I have banned bond, because I have authority over them.
Your Excellency, it is true you are the commander in Chief and you have authority over the Police but you do not have authority to unilaterally revoke the provision regarding police bond, a safe guard that is firmly rooted in the constitution and the Police Act. Until these laws are amended to reflect the sentiments of the president, they remain good laws worth upholding.
All Ugandans know that the President has failed to fight corruption and that it is the failure to deliver services to the last person on the ground that entices small thieves. In my thinking, the President should have used his address to talk about his achievements for the year 2024 and the projections for 2025 instead of making unconstitutional threats.
So long as we still have a country that depends on colonial police cells for holding up suspects without the basic facilities such as bedding, toilets, meals, ventilations among others, the last decision you can make is to deny suspects a police bond. So as we await law suits taking individual police officers to court, the sky is the limit. We await a rejoinder from state house trying to expound what the President meant.
Wadada Rogers is a commentator on political, legal and social issues. wadroger @yahoo.ca
