At UCC Telecom Vandalism Trial, Remandees Cry to Magistrate: Help Quicken Our Trial, Lest We Die in Luzira-Fellow inmates Are Daily Dying in Big Numbers

By Mulengera Reporters

During the Tuesday Court session at Makindye, remandees pleaded with Standards & Utilities Chief Magistrate Gladys Kamasanyu to expedite their respective trials so that they get to know their fate.

They made it clear to the Magistrate that there is simply too much uncertainty, nervousness and anxiety these days at Luzira prison.

One remandees, a young man barely in his 30s, started it all when he raised his hand and informed Kamasanyu that there was something he wanted to bring to her attention.

“Your Honor I’m requesting you to treat me leniently as a mother because my future life is now in your hands. I was recently diagnosed with some strange ailment after I developed internal complications inside my left shoulder,” he said while struggling to conceal his broken voice.

While struggling to hold back tears, the young man told the Magistrate how he is increasingly becoming fearful that he is going to die in prison where he has so far been on remand for the last seven months. “Everyday I wake up when my life has diminished. Its diminishing at a very fast rate. I’m not feeling well at all. And to make matters worse we are all traumatized your honour because everyday on average, we see like three inmates being carried out dead for burial. We think we are going to be next. Prison life has emotionally become very scaring for each one of us.”

The young man, who is being prosecuted for environmental and forestry-related violations, explained to the Magistrate that he had decided to accept guilt under the plea-bargain arrangement with the state prosecutor so that he gets sentenced so that he begins serving his jail term instead of continuing to waste time defending himself against criminal charges relating to a case he now realizes he doesn’t stand much chance winning.

He briefed the Magistrate about the misunderstandings between him and the state prosecutors prosecuting his case, which have prevented them from making progress. He implored the Magistrate to use her office and get the state prosecutors handling his case to become more deliberate about moving faster.

“We have made progress but continue to disagree on the sentence. What the state attorney is insisting on is too much yet I have already been in for seven years. Kindly get involved and get them to reduce for me on that so that I go to die at home because everyday I continue to be in prison conditions, my health is diminishing. I feel I’m growing weaker every passing day,” he said prompting Kamasanyu to call on him to man up and be strong.

The Magistrate reminded him that death is a must for every human being, which is why people die everyday regardless of whether they are in Luzira prison or not. She assured him that all would be well and he wouldn’t be dying soon.

She advised:  “What you need to focus on is to use this prison experience to reform and become a better person. Make sure you are law abiding and a well-behaved person. Otherwise, if you don’t stop those things, you want to confess and admit guilt about, next time you won’t be that much lucky. You will find yourself in the Court y’abantu [people’s court] where you will be subject to crowd justice [basically mob justice] and you will be lucky to emerge alive from that kind of process,” Kamasanyu said.

She then signalled Quarish Yasiin Lubowa Ssegirinya, another suspect who has been on remand while coming for trial for almost two years now. His case is a complex one as state prosecutors from UCC have been producing evidence and exhibits in a bid to place him on the scene of crime. He is alleged to have been caught red-handed at the ATC Namakonkome telecom site near Matuga May 2024 busy vandalizing telecom equipment.

The Magistrate casually asked him if he too was worried about the possibility of dying in Luzira. “Your Worship life is very hard inside there these days and anything can happen to any of us while there,” Quarish responded in Luganda, which is the only language he speaks.

He is a Kisekka market mechanic and he legally unrepresented, which means he is his own lawyer. He requested to see the Magistrate in camera so that he freely consults her about some of the legal implications that could cripple him in case he admits to the offence and makes a plea-bargaining deal with prosecutors from UCC who are prosecuting his case. These are led by Dr. Abdul Salaam Waiswa, Kevin Bakulumpagi and Nas Kagawa.

Kamasanyu asked other remandees who were in court if they too equally feel nervous upon seeing fellow inmates die inside Luzira prison.

Quarish, who is waiting for the Magistrate’s proclamation establishing whether he has a case to answer or not, became visibly even more terrified when the UCC prosecutors indicated to the Magistrate during the Tuesday session that they don’t intend to produce any more witnesses, because they are certain that the evidence they have so far put in is more than enough to show Court that a prima farcie case has been made out by prosecution.

All said and done, Kamasanyu promised to do what she can to ensure that many of the cases active in her Court are concluded between now and Christmas breaking time, so that the accused persons go into the new year 2026 with certainty regarding how long they are to remain in prison and for what reasons.

Referring to two telecom engineers (Hamdan Mukwaya and Charles Kasirye- formerly of Airtel), who have been on remand for more than two years and are still counting, Kamasanyu explained during the Tuesday session that no judicial officer enjoys seeing the country’s young men having their youthful years wasted in jail instead of being freely available in the community so that they produce value and contribute to the building of their nation.

“This country benefits better when people like these two [engineers] are free and out there contributing to the building of their nation Uganda. But their country has been deprived of their contribution for all this time. None of us should be proud of that,” Kamasanyu concluded while promising to do her best in the circumstances. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).