Rodney Muhumuza & Hussein Bogere
25 July 2008
Ten minutes. That's how long the three detained Buganda kingdom officials were allowed out of custody yesterday at Kyenjojo Police Station before they were rearrested and whisked off to detention in an undisclosed location.
Mr Charles Peter Mayiga, Mr Medard Lubega and Ms Betty Nambooze, who were arrested last Friday, were briefly freed yesterday afternoon, a day after the grade one magistrate at Buganda Road court in Kampala ordered their immediate release after they were held without charge for more than the 48 hours prescribed by the constitution.
However, witnesses at Kyenjojo Police Station in western Uganda said the suspects were all bundled into separate cars, moments after they had spoken to their relatives and lawyers, and driven off to undisclosed locations.
Mr Lubega's pregnant wife is said to have collapsed when it dawned upon her that her husband would not be freed after all. Ms Nambooze looked frail while Mr Lubega walked with a limp, according to an eyewitness.
In a statement issued last evening, Internal Affairs Minister Ruhakana Rugunda said: "In compliance with the Court Order issued by the Buganda Road Court on Wednesday 23rd July, 2008 ordering that, Peter Mayiga, Medard Ssegona Lubega and Betty Nambooze be released from Police custody unconditionally, the Police has accordingly released them from Kyenjojo Police Station today Thursday 24th July 2008.
"However, on the basis of the evidence so far gathered, and in accordance with the law, the Police has re-arrested them and they are to appear in Court tomorrow Friday 25th July 2008."
Mr Mayiga is Buganda's minister of information and cabinet affairs, while Mr Lubega is his deputy. Ms Nambooze heads Buganda's Central Civic Education Committee, appointed by Kabaka Mutebi to spearhead public campaigns against proposed amendments to the 1998 Land Act that the Kingdom opposes.
Police chief Kale Kayihura has said the Mengo trio was being held on allegations of sectarianism, promoting war, terrorism and inciting violence. Maj. Gen. Kayihura also said last week that the suspects were being investigated for possible connections with some armed groups and their "attempts to acquire firearms".
Yesterday's re-arrests were the culmination of a dramatic day in which security operatives in Kyenjojo waited, from the early hours of the morning, for directives from senior political and security officials who met in Kampala for several hours in a meeting chaired by Dr Rugunda, to find a way of keeping the officials in custody without violating the constitution any longer or defying the court order.
The security chiefs, according a well-placed source that declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter, considered charging the suspects in a Kyenjojo court yesterday before opting to re-arrest the suspects within minutes of their release. "We can now begin counting 48 hours afresh, but the truth is that they will appear in court [Friday]," a source close to the arresting party told Daily Monitor.
Kampala Central MP Erias Lukwago, who is part of the suspects' legal defence team, told Daily Monitor yesterday that his client's rights had been abused. He said: "What did they do? They are just trying to play around with the court order." He vowed to go ahead with plans for a petition accusing Maj. Gen. Kale Kayihura of contempt of court.
It is not the first time suspects have been released and rearrested soon after; in 2005 treason suspects co-accused with opposition leader Dr Kizza Besigye of being involved with the rebel People's Redemption Army were rearrested by armed soldiers wearing police uniforms after the suspects had been granted bail by the High Court in Kampala.
A police source told Daily Monitor that the suspects are likely to face charges today at the High Court in Fort Portal, although their whereabouts were unknown by press time yesterday. There were unconfirmed reports that the trio could also be charged with treason.
Since their arrest in Kampala last Friday, the suspects have been transferred through the western districts of Kibaale, Kyenjojo and Bundibugyo, where they were said to have gone through what police sources called "an identification parade".
Mengo, the seat of Buganda, has rejected the charges against the officials. An emergency committee set up by the kingdom following last Friday's arrests says it is an attempt to silence Buganda's opposition to the proposed land law amendments, which would make it harder for landlords to evict tenants.
Two CBS presenters who hosted the three detained officials were questioned by police this week and released without charge.
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