I refer to Legal Notice No. 4 of 2025 dated February 11, 2025 in which President Museveni established a tribunal of inquiry into my conduct composed of Retired Justice Galdino Okello as chairperson, and Retired Justice Jotham Tumwesigye and Justice Winfrida Beatrice Karosso as members.
I make further reference to my lawyers’ letter (KBW Advocates) Ref: No. CIV/136/2023 dated May 19, 2025 and retired Justice Okello’s unreferenced letter in reply dated 27th May 2025 written on behalf of the tribunal.
Having patiently waited for over four and a half months for the tribunal to complete its ‘preparatory phase; eight months since the tribunal’s establishment and for over four and a half years since March 2021 to get justice, I have been compelled to once again write to the tribunal.
This commentary on the tribunal brings to your attention individually and collectively the constitutional, legal, ethical and moral issues concerning the tribunal, that require your urgent attention, reflection, consideration and action.
I am further writing to inform you that, basing on all the grounds I have laid out in the commentary, the tribunal you were appointed to is a nullity, and cannot constitutionally, lawfully, legitimately or honorably proceed or grant justice to me and the people of Uganda.
Each member of this tribunal not only has the duty to respect, uphold, and defend our Constitution. You have all built a reputation over many years in law, public service, and in society.
I appeal to you to save your respective reputation by distancing yourselves from a process that violates the Constitution, undermines judicial independence, and wastes scarce public resources and to stand on the side of the rule of law, justice and judicial independence.
I also appeal to your respective consciences and integrity, not to lend yourselves to an enterprise that is clearly unconstitutional and unjust, but which bears stark resemblance to a Kangaroo court.
IN VIEW OF ALL THE ABOVE FACTORS, I REQUEST:
(i) each one of you to either decline or retract your respective appointments to the tribunal; or (ii) to recuse yourselves from participating in the tribunal’s activities and proceedings.
If, however, the tribunal chooses to proceed, I request the tribunal: (i) to immediately avail me with all the reports and documents that were availed to the tribunal upon its appointment; and (ii) all the laws and rules under which the tribunal will be conducting its proceedings.
(iii) to hold a public preliminary tribunal hearing to consider and pronounce yourselves on all the issues raised before commencing the substantive tribunal hearings; and (iv) provide me with adequate funding from the tribunal’s official budget allocation, to enable me to prepare for and to make my defence I also retain all my rights to, among others, defend myself before a public hearing, cross-examine witnesses, tender documents, call witnesses, and remain ready to defend myself against any charges the tribunal may frame out of:
(i) Chief Justice Owiny Dollo’s illegal and incompetent referral document (baptized as a complaint by the Judicial Service Commission; or (ii) the Judicial Service Commission’s unconstitutional Report; or (iii) the tribunal’s unconstitutional Terms of Reference; or (iv) all the above three documents.
As retired Justices of the Supreme court of Uganda and as Uganda’s senior citizens who should no longer be swayed with promises and/ or prospects of appointments or promotions to big offices, you are best placed to uphold our Constitution and to safeguard judicial independence. I do hope that you will choose to do the right thing.
The author is a retired justice of the Supreme court.
I’m surprised that the Observer has not written about the arrest of Dr. Bireete. I urge the Observer and all independent media to treat the current wave of state-led persecution as the emergency it is. Dr. Sarah Bireete, a pillar of Uganda’s civil society, was taken from her home on December 30, 2025, and remains in detention today without charge. This silence is what retired Justice Esther Kisaakye warned about in her commentary, where she calls for ‘urgent attention’ to the ethical and moral decay within our institutions. If a prominent leader like Dr. Bireete can be held beyond the constitutional 48-hour limit with no judicial recourse, then no Ugandan is safe. When will the press finally echo the cry of the illegally detained? Many Ugandans are rotting in detention without hope of being released.
Remase, at this rate: gripped and paralyzed in fear and/or terror of being abducted, tortured, trafficked across the neighbouring countries border and/or forcefully disappeared, sooner than later; there will no one left to speak up for each other.
It is a reminder of the famous words of World War II German Pastor Martin Niemöller: “First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a communist. Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me— and there was no one left to speak out for me.”
In other words, our 85-years-old PROBLEM OF AFRICA and his chicken and puppy head son are so intoxicated with power such that; if Mother Teresa (RIP) was here and critical of the regime, she would have been abducted and taken to the basement, for sometime to learn Runyankole and bow before a Giant photograph of Gen Tibuhaburwa.
Wachirebe!
Dr. Sarah Bireete’s detention is exactly the kind of ‘unwarranted affront on constitutionalism’ that Justice Esther Kisaakye warned us about. Remanding [sentencing] a prominent rights defender until late January—conveniently after the general election—is a clear misuse of judicial power to silence dissent. While figures like Kyagulanyi urge a ‘protest vote’ on January 15, the reality is that the tools for a legitimate protest are being dismantled. With thousands from 2020 still missing or in jail, and now Dr. Bireete silenced for questioning electoral integrity, the 2026 election is becoming a mere formality for a captured state.
The silence from the Observer on the detention of Dr. Bireete is deafening and disappointing. As one of the few voices consistently standing up for constitutional governance, her arrest on December 30 and her imprisonment past the election date should be headline news. For fellow Ugandans, we must confront a hard truth: we cannot claim to be ‘fighting for change’ through the ballot while our defenders are being systematically imprisoned. If we go to the polls while Bireete and Besigye remain in cells, are we truly protesting the regime, or are we just participating in its theater? The 48-hour rule is dead; our defenders are being silenced, and the ‘protest vote’ risks becoming a hollow gesture in a state governed by fear.
The imprisonment of Dr. Bireete until January 21, 2026, is a transparent attempt to neutralize a key election observer during the most critical window of the 2026 vote. By denying her bail on the tenuous charge of accessing voter data—the very data she is meant to monitor—the state has signaled that independent oversight is now a criminal offense. This follows the same pattern used against Dr. Besigye, who has been held on treason charges since his November 2024 abduction. We must ask: how can we call the January 15 polls ‘free and fair’ when the state’s most vocal critics are behind bars, and the judiciary facilitates their detention until after the final results are announced?
Remase you have a point. It is clear that what political misfortunes that happened prior to 1980 are presently happening in this country! This is a government that has decided to do what it is doing because that is what its devoted members fought for and died for in the rich agricultural regions of the Kingdom state of Buganda for many years and counting!!
Remase you are well aware that the observer paper offices were attacked some weeks back and much of its equipments lost and destroyed. This was not the first time. God knows who has helped this paper to make a comeback. If the government of NRM has helped very much this Uganda medium paper into production again well the observer journalists are compromised!
Kabayeka, the recent targeted attack on The Observer’s offices—where storage devices were surgically extracted—is a chilling reminder of the price of independent journalism in Uganda. As a loyal reader, I now better understand the immense pressure the publication is under. Despite these brazen attempts at intimidation and the broader economic hostility from a regime that dislikes constructive criticism, The Observer remains a vital pillar of our democracy. Their refusal to be compromised, even after losing critical equipment, proves that their integrity cannot be bought or stolen.
Running a newsprint business in this hostile environment is a courageous act of defiance against an autocratic ‘order of things.’ Far from being compromised, The Observer’s survival is a testament to its independence at a time when the state is using every tool—from unfair tax assessments to physical raids—to silence dissent.
In an era where the regime has commercialized politics and weaponized the law against its critics, an independent press is our last line of defense. The Observer’s refusal to fold despite such targeted hostility shows they are not compromised but are instead being punished for their unwavering commitment to holding power to account.
And Remase, in his Memoir Long Walk to Freedom, pg751: Nelson Mandela (RIP) who suffer a 27year loss of freedom in unjust imprisonment, reminds us that:
“A man who takes away another man’s freedom is a prisoner of hatred. He is locked behind the bars of prejudice and narrow mindedness”.
In other words, the worse hatred is not even taking away another man/woman’s freedom, but to kill another man/woman, which Gen Tibuhaburwa has been, and still is doing so.
The misfortune and absurdity is that: it the same person whom many Ugandans are falling over each other to campaign and vote for on 15th Jan 2026.
I am bewildered!
Lakwena, it is difficult to ignore the contrast between Mandela’s 5-year term in office and a choice to empower a nation through transition and M7’s 40-year rule and continued hold on power. When key government institutions, from the URA to military leadership, are heavily staffed by family, relatives and individuals from a specific region. Mandela would have stayed in power for life if he wantated to. On the other hand, M7 was not persecuted or imprisioned. Furthermore, no one asked M7 to go to the bush and use the gun and violence to capture power. However, M7 acts as if he owns Uganda and we owe him and his family allegiance for life. M7 has no intention to handover power to the opposition through elections. M7 has frequently characterized the opposition as ‘wolves’ Yet evidence suggests that M7, his family, relative, tribesment and militants are the wolves. His wife, Janet M7, is the minister of education. His son, Muhoozi M7, is the CDF. His brother, Salim Saleh, is in chaege of opperation wealth creation. His brother in law, Rwabogo, is incharge of cofffee export and marking Ugandan goods abroad.
Remase, it is exasperating. The next 5 years under Mr. M7 and FAMILY RULE will probably be a literal HELL on Earth for Ugandans, but not many see it coming.
After finally telling us off; loud and clear in our faces on 26th Jan 2017, that he is neither our SERVANT nor EMPLOYEE, and thereafter in November removed the PRESIDENTIAL AGE LIMIT from the constitution; the thug had already martialled enough resources and power to do whatever he wants, as well as made everyday including the current campaign FOOLS DAYS for the country.
In other words, Gen Tibuhaburwa is PURE EVIL. At 86 years old and falling apart, just like previous promises and worse; the guy will from now on do NOTHING in as far as the campaign promises are concern, and make everything impossible for whoever will become the next president/leaders.