By Ritah Kemigisa
Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja has asked religious leaders and other Ugandans to support President Museveni’s proposal to deny bail for people accused of capital offenses.
President Museveni has since renewed his unpopular debate on scrapping of bail in which he seeks to make it hard for judges to release suspects of capital offenses on bail before at least serving 180 days of remand.
Speaking during the Kampala Archdiocesan day celebrations at Lubaga Cathedral yesterday, Ms Nabbanja said the issue of bail is of great concern to everyone and not only the government.
According to Ms Nabbanja, the removal of bail is aimed at reducing the power of the judges, murder cases and mob justice that often result into killing of persons.
“People are angry, just imagine, someone kills the other and everyone gets to know but because they have money, they look for ways of getting bail and return to the same village where they killed someone,” said Ms Nabbanja.
Ms Nabbanja added that the proposal will also help reduce recidivism.
“People should understand that every time criminals are arrested and taken to police or court and they are given bail, they go back to the villages and repeat the same offence. Some people defile young girls and they are given bail, they defile more girls,” added Ms Nabbanja.
Meanwhile, Bishop Joseph Kizito, a Uganda priest who is the Bishop of Aliwal catholic diocese in South Africa used the church celebrations to task the government of Uganda to benchmark the democracy of South Africa.