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Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Retired Lt General Henry Tumukunde has asked city hall magistrates court to dismiss the charges of illegal possession of a firearm and its ammunition against him for want of prosecution.
Tumukunde was this morning appearing in court presided over by Senior Grade One Magistrate Valerian Tuhimbise to be informed on the status of investigations on his two separate criminal files. In one file, the former Security Minister is facing charges of treason which can only be tried by the high court being a capital offense and the other file contains charges of illegal possession of firearm and ammunition which can be tried by the magistrate’s court.
However when the cases came up today, the State Attorney Viola Nsingwire told court that the investigations in treason charges are not yet complete due to disruptions by the COVID-19 pandemic.
But concerning the file of illegal possession of a firearm, Nsingwire told court that she is not the prosecutor handling it and she thus prayed for a short adjournment to inquire on the status of investigations in it.
Nsingwire who was representing State Attorney Roy Ninkuze further noted that she had not heard from her colleague as to why he was absent adding that she also didn’t have a police file to refer to on the progress of investigations.
However, Tumukunde through his lawyers Geoffrey Turyamusiima and Anthony Wameli informed court that the case has dragged on since March 2020 citing that it should be considered that the prosecution is not interested in prosecuting their client.
Court heard that the actions of the State Attorney who is familiar with this case for not turning up and in the absence of a police file all indicate that they are not interested in prosecuting his client except frustrating him.
Wameli added that the DPP has powers to reinstate the charges any time they are ready as opposed to his client appearing in court several times without any progress.
But in his ruling on the matter, the Magistrate Tuhimbise decided to give the prosecution two months to finalize with the investigations or else should they show any symptoms of unreadiness, he will dismiss the cases.
Tuhimbise later adjourned the two cases to November 23, 2020.
Tumukunde who appeared physically at court was showing signs of looking afraid. He has earlier said he was scared about his security, fearing that he would be arrested by detectives since he last week lost a bid to block the police summons that required him to appear in Kibuli CID headquarters to make a statement over his involvement in meetings with veteran soldiers.
Tumukunde arrived at the court very early in the morning in a black harrier car, stayed inside the vehicle and couldn’t dare step out until the court session started. After court he also sped off immediately without talking to anyone due to fear according to his lawyer Wameli.
Trouble for Tumukunde in this particular case started after appearing in NBS TV studios then in Kamokya in Kampala, during the Morning Breeze program on March 5th, 2020 where he allegedly made statements calling for unlawful change of the legitimate government of Uganda.
The state quotes Tumukunde saying “If I was Rwanda, I would wish to support people who want to cause change in Uganda” a statement which the prosecution says was aimed at instigating the Republic of Rwanda to invade the Republic of Uganda to cause unlawful change of government.
Prosecution also alleges that on March 13, 2020 while at Impala Avenue in Kampala, Tumukunde was found in illegal possession of an AK 47 rifle registration number 19865 and star pistol registration number EL 860030.
But the retired general and presidential aspirant has since denied the offenses and he is enjoying his freedom temporarily having been granted bail in May 2020 by the High Court.
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