Since April 4, the several public pronouncements of Balaam Barugahara, the state minister for Youth and Children Affairs as well as the judiciary’s confirmatory statement via X on April 11 have compelled the Uganda Law Society (ULS) to express dismay at the “first-ever mobile High court Session” at Ggaba community church grounds.
This orchestrated spectacle is not novel; it is a civilian echo of the very constitutional violations the ULS successfully challenged; and the Constitutional Court condemned, in Petition No. 2 of 2002 (consolidated with Petition No. 8 of 2002).
In that case, two UPDF soldiers were arrested, tried by Field Court Martial, convicted, sentenced to death, and executed on the same day for the murder of three civilians in Kotido district.
The proceedings were driven by public outrage and operational “necessity.” The ULS petitioned that the process violated Article 28 (right to a fair hearing before an independent and impartial tribunal, adequate time and facilities for preparation of defence) and Article 128 (judicial independence).
The parallels here are stark and damning. Then, as now, a heinous crime inflamed public sentiment; then, as now, “speedy justice” was demanded and delivered outside ordinary safeguards; then, as now, the tribunal’s independence was compromised by the very structure and context created to satisfy that demand.
The only material difference is that the 2002 violation occurred in a military forum; today it is being replicated in a civilian High court session deliberately relocated to the crime scene at executive behest.
The Constitutional court’s reasoning binds with equal force: a mobile court summoned to the churchyard where the victims were mourned, under live cameras and ministerial oversight, cannot satisfy Article 28 or Article 128 any more than the Kotido Field Court Martial could.
We condemn the Ggaba mobile court in the strongest terms. The Judiciary’s statement of 11 April 2026 is not reform. It is institutional cover for the most cynical executive interference in 24 years. The Judiciary has abandoned the bench for political theatre and mob-adjacent justice. This will not stand.
THE JUDICIARY AS LAWBREAKER
Justice Alice Komuhangi Khaukha is presiding over the mobile High court at the Ggaba Community Church grounds to try Christopher Okello Onyum on four counts of murder.
Chief Justice Flavian Zeija calls the sitting “historic” and the cites Legal Notice No. 1 of 2026; the Constitution (Operation of Mobile Courts) (Practice) Directions, 2026, as authority.
However, the Uganda Law Society finds the mobile High court session at Ggaba unconstitutional, unsafe, and a calculated fraud on the public. It is not an innovation.
It is a violation, and a dangerous precedent in the making. A capital trial demands the highest procedural safeguards. There is no “public interest” exception to Articles 28 and 44(c). This is not merely a single trial.
It is the first-ever use of the mobile court system. It will set the template for future high-profile prosecutions. If constitutional safeguards are diluted under public outrage and executive direction, that dilution will not remain exceptional. It will become the rule.
That is why the National Bar Association must fight now. Our mandate under Section 3 of the Uganda Law Society Act is to protect and assist the public in all matters touching the law, and to assist the Government and the courts in all matters affecting legislation and the administration of justice.
To stay silent while the executive selects the court venue and modalities, and the Judiciary obeys, is to ratify the death of Article 128 by acquiescence. Twenty-four years ago, the Constitutional court nullified the infamous Kotido field court martial trial in Uganda Law Society v Attorney General, Constitutional Petition No. 2 of 2002, because command cannot replace process. The principle has not aged. The danger has returned.
Accordingly, the Uganda Law Society will move the competent court for declarations that the Ggaba mobile High court is unconstitutional, and for orders prohibiting its sitting. We seek to restore judicial independence and enforce Articles 28, 44, and 128 before this precedent hardens into practice.
The author is president, Uganda Law Society.
This is an abridged version of the original keynote address he delivered from exile to the legal profession on Sunday April 12 via #RNBLive, a hybrid digital platform for engaging the public and the press.
Hell no to your legal gymnastics and struggle to show intellect. One or all those innocently murdered children, if they had been given a chance to live, could have become better lawyers than you. People are grieving and shocked, and you are there gaslighting! We want this matter sorted out most expeditiously and we erase these heinous murders from our memories.
How will you sort it without getting the motive. What if those rushing the trial apart of an organized crime network covering there tracks. Being emotional won’t resolve the issue of motive and possible sponsors of the accused.
But Joe, including a recklessly driven Prison’s Van that ploughed into court attendants; at least Okello is arbitrarily, unconstitutionally and recklessly being speedily tried in a worry-hurry Field High Court .
But where are the culprits who terrorized and massacred 10 of NUP/Hon Mwanga Kivumbi’s supporters during the vote tallying; but instead Mwanga Kivumbi and others arrested and charged with terrorism.
In other words, of the two: which is the lessor or greater evil? One was committed by a visible psychopath.
The other was: a massacre committed by officially armed government security agents, ordered from above.
And just like OUR PROBLEM OF AFRICA on 20th Dec 2020, told the whole wide world (www) that he knows the people (soldiers) who pulverized Boxer Zebra Ssenyange’s body in a hail of machinegun bullets, right in his (Zebra’s) backyard. Why didn’t the fountain of honour, report the culprits to the nearest police station?
It is because 40 years and counting, he aids and abets all the capital offenses and crimes in our law books.
Very sad to learn about that Lakwena. Every human being is created in the image of God. All lives matter. Murdering a human being is akin to murdering an Angel. The Bible is clear; shedding/spilling innocent blood will be visited on bloodlines of murderers to the third and fourth generations. I hope murderers are aware of Bible verses on the subject.
Okello’s awful murder of children was well-covered in the mainstream media/press, while alleged murders that you’ve mentioned weren’t. You will be surprised that folks in the diaspora who trust mainstream media and mistrust social media (me too), know nothing or very little about those alleged murders.
Joe, “thou shall not kill” is a categorical imperative. It is not limited humans only but as well as “environmental”.
E.g., even the seemingly dead soil (rock-sand) is the source of life to plants and/or other organisms.
In the Koran Sura 5:32 says to kill a person is as though you have killed the entire humanity (Genocide). That is how serious. And if you saved one life, it is as though you have save the entire humanity (Salvation).
In other words, who take seriously such dictums?
For some of our underworld politicians killing others; especially the innocent ones (babies, virgins, through School Dom fire-inferno e.g. Buddo Girls, etc,) in the name of power retention/terror is a ritual human sacrifices.
How many times did we hear from our 86-years-old PROBLEM OF AFRICA, eyeballing and telling Ugandans that they will be CRUSHED?
Ms Lakwena , you are a well balanced thinker . Uganda would most probably be a little better with more of you.
Single-dimensional “pundits” will not see what you see , unless and until they are triggered into action when a particular name is or has to be mentioned .
I guess comprehensive thinking is not fall .
Well done dear .
Nice weekend to you .
Hello Betty (Elizabeth),
Why Lakwena only? Please wish me a nice weekend too. I wish you a nice one. I agree with you about Lakwena’s brilliant comments and his love/passion for Uganda. All of us who write articles and comments in this space and other spaces, including constructive criticisms care about Uganda.
Lakwena should be more balanced. In his/her comments, he/she doesn’t give Museveni any credit! Someone has been in power for 40 years and counting! The country is in one piece and peace, and has never gone bankrupt. There are many glaring achievements. Surely, the man has done some good things, failings that are innate to every human being notwithstanding.
I am an independent thinker, and not single-dimensional as you characterize others. I don’t seek any personal favor from the Ugandan govt. It is well with me from where God’s amazing grace put me.
But Joe, 40 years and counting, how can someone who has already become the PROBLEM OF AFRICA 20 years ago, be credited for any GOOD?
The “… one piece and peace,” you are talking about, are pieces of artificial peace being held together by propaganda.
E.g., According to the Law of Cause and Effect: for 5 years it was NOT Obote (RIP), but Mr. M7 and his NRA who took DEATH and DESTRUCTION to the people of Luweero.
For 21 years, it was NOT Joseph Kony and the LRA that took DEATH, IDP Camps, widespread illiteracy and dehumanizing POVERTY to Greater Northern Uganda, etc. BUT Mr. M7 and his NRA . JK and LRA were simply resisting a backward and illegitimate government.
You are talking about the “PEACE” sic “revolution” or ideology in whose name, all the CRIMES in our law books have been committed: Treason, terrorism, concealed genocide, extrajudicial murder such as: the Mukura Railway Freight Wagon Inferno; where 79 young and old Etesot men were roasted alive; illegal arrests (abduction), torture, forced disappearances, and not forgetting BACKWARDNESS of nepotism, tribalism cronyism, and the CORRUPTION that feed them.
Why should anybody in his/her right state of mind credit someone, who does not only abuses, but also consumes the Lion share of national recourses? And moreover told off the citizens who pick his bills that: he is neither their servant, nor employee?
And Joe, like illegal goods (contraband) across the Kenyan Borders; should I give credit to Gen Tibuhaburwa for the abduction and trafficking of his former Physician, Dr. Kiiza Besigye and co-abducted, Haj Obed Kamulegeya and their indefinite detention without trial?
In other words, and sure even God and the Devil cannot convince me to give credit to such a person.
And please, don’t tell me to at least give CREDIT to his grossly indiscipline son, Gen MK,
In other words, under our 86-years-old PROBLEM OF AFRICA, Gen Tibuhaburwa anything goes!
E.g., who in his/her right state of mind, could imagine that the most noble, sacrosanct and highest Civil Service position of the land, the Chief Justice could be sworn in the president’s personal Kraal (ranch) in Kisozi?
It is an absurd, disrespectful and bewildering innovation!
And in the Okello debacle (15th April 2026), a Bad Omen (kisirani) occurred, when driving in reverse gear; the van bringing him to the Abominable Field Court ploughed into the crowd seriously injuring one of the journalists.
Wachireba?
Lakwena this reply is yours to me earlier. For some reason, I couldn’t see the “reply” button. Looks like an ad covered it.
Lakwena, please forgive NRA, LRA, UPA, FOBA, Karamojong cattle rustlers and other combatants/rebels. Those groups unfortunately chose armed conflict to solve problems and caused a lot of death, destruction and suffering in society.
Like you, I also come from the greater north and suffered a lot. Personally, I lost cattle that I inherited from my father (MHSRIP). I also lost family members and relatives. However, I see the positive side of things (glass half full, not half empty). I studied at Makerere Univ. in the early years of NRM administration on a gov’t scholarship before IMF SAPs kicked in. I see that as my benefit from the administration. I won’t claim for cattle compensation because the education that I received at Makerere, situated me.
In America, black immigrants succeed more than descendants of slaves, in most cases (especially in the south). The major reason is that, the latter have failed to forgive and get past horrors of slavery, Jim Crow laws, etc. They are always suspicious of white folks. When sordid history and hate get passed down from one generation to the next, society is not served. In fact, white folks prefer to work with African immigrants, and that makes descendants of slaves mad.
The worst I/anyone can do is to perpetuating hate. Sometimes, people with the worst past can create the best future. Let’s focus on the future. The past can’t be changed.