Kampala — The resident Senior State Attorney of Buganda Road Chief Magistrates Court, Ivan Kyazze, has informed the court that he is still waiting for the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID) to furnish him with a death certificate to prove that Kawempe North Member of Parliament Muhammad Ssegirinya is dead before the charges of inciting violence against him can be formally dropped.
Kyazze revealed this on Wednesday while appearing before the Chief Magistrate Ronald Kayizzi when the matter, dating back to 2020, came up for further mention. He then asked for an adjournment to allow the CID, which was investigating the case that stemmed from the deceased's Facebook post, to furnish him with the death certificate.
Kayizzi informed Kyazze that when a person dies, the case formally abates. However, Kyazze indicated that they need the certificate, which they have not yet received. Accordingly, Kayizzi adjourned the case to April 11th, 2025, for the State to provide the document to show that the case should formally abate.
Ssegirinya, also known as Mr. Update, is being accused of having reportedly posted a statement on his Facebook page, named "Ssegirinya Muhammad Fans Page," calculated to incite the public to participate in violence against a section or group of people.
The Prosecution quotes Ssegirinya as having posted, "I am warning those who are trying to assassinate Hon Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu that what will happen will be forty times worse than the 1994 Rwandan Genocide." It is estimated that one million people were slaughtered in ethnic cleansing in 100 days during the genocide in question.
The late Ssegirinya died on January 9th, 2025, at Lubaga Hospital after a legacy born out of relentless legal battles that saw him spend almost his entire career as an MP in Luzira and Kigo prisons. He was later buried in Masaka on January 12th, 2025, in a burial ceremony that was widely broadcast on almost all televisions and reported by various print and media houses, including bloggers.
Before the stalling of this particular case, the Prosecution had on February 23rd, 2022, brought one witness, Juliet Naiga, a News Editor with Uganda Broadcasting Corporation, who transcribed the video where Ssegirinya is alleged to have spoken the words the state is accusing him of. But Ssegirinya was granted bail on these charges of inciting violence.
However, at around the same time, the Buganda Road Court, presided over by the then Chief Magistrate Gladys Kamasanyu, dismissed other charges of inciting violence against Ssegirinya which stemmed from protests he had conducted downtown Kampala City demanding the release of political prisoners who had been arrested during the 2020/2021 general elections.
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The dismissal of charges for lack of sufficient evidence to pin Ssegirinya left him with one file of inciting violence, which is now the only one still pending before Buganda Road Court. This case has also gone through many hands of judicial officers, including Siena Owomugisha, but has yet to be concluded.
Before his arraignment before Buganda Road Court, Ssegirinya had been arrested on September 7th, 2021, by police in Masaka District together with Makindye West Member of Parliament Allan Ssewanyana and accordingly sent to Kigo prison on charges related to terrorism, aiding and abetting terrorism, murder, and attempted murder.
These charges stemmed from their alleged involvement in the Greater Masaka Region machete killings, which claimed more than 20 lives of people between July and September 2021. However, the process of formally dropping these terrorism charges against Ssegirinya is also not yet concluded in the International Crimes Division of the High Court, as the Prosecution recently sought adjournment to get guidance from the DPP before amending the indictment.
