By Our Reporters
Many people have been wondering why Gen Kayihura, who was IGP and owned up, at the time fracas that saw MPs beaten during the age limit debate occurred hasn’t been summoned (at least on the insistence of the opposition) to appear and answer tough questions similar to what Keith Muhakanizi, John Mitala, Asuman Mugyenyi and Frank Mwesigwa have endured so far. We have the answer for you in this article. Having spoken to the lawyers and petitioners thickly involved in the Constitutional Petition, we have established that Kayihura was tactfully shielded by the Attorney General’s chambers by ensuring he didn’t swear any affidavit replying to the petition. The AG must have rightly realized it was going to be hard to conceal certain things; just imagine if Kayihura was to come to face the Erias Lukwago’s insisting that he sheds light on many of the things CDF Gen David Muhoozi said during the Tuesday session. The thing is there are many things Muhoozi swept under the carpet repeatedly saying “on that one I relied on and trusted the IGP’s judgment.” The moment he didn’t swear any affidavit, it became hard for the petitioners to insist on Kayihura coming for cross examination. By the way, for starters, a witness can only be cross examined on evidence she/he has given during his examination in chief (in this case contents of his affidavit) and the adverse lawyer can only cross examine a witness basing on his evidence given in examination in chief which in this case is negatived by absence of any affidavit in reply by Gen Kayihura. The same applies to Rebecca Kadaga whose summoning Hassan Male Mabirizi unsuccessfully insisted on at the beginning of the hearing in Mbale. Mabirizi vehemently cited Order 16 r1 insisting it empowers court to invite or summon any witness they feel like but the Justices over ruled him. Ladies and gentlemen that is how both Kadaga and Kayihura escaped scrutiny at the ongoing televised court proceedings in Mbale. Some of our readers have been inboxing inquiring about NRM lawyer Kiwanuka Kiryowa’s conspicuous absence in Mbale. His absence is explained as follows; he had initially come around as NRM party lawyer and his attendance ceased to be relevant the moment JPAM’s hatchet man Benjamin Alipanga opted to curiously withdraw his petition. This meant there wasn’t any more claim against the NRM hence affording KK (who is a grandson to a Jolly Joe Kiwanuka) a reason to stay away. But it’s also true Mwesigwa Rukutana, who is leading the government side, was very cautious right from day one to deflate public criticism that the AG’s chambers is always wasting taxpayers’ money hiring private lawyers despite the presence of a large number of lawyers at the AG. It’s already angering enough to hear that the hearing is already costing the Judiciary and taxpayers’ over Shs200m per week; AG hiring private lawyers would only have made worse the public anger towards government’s alleged extravagance. In our considered opinion and that of our pundits, this is the reason around which absence of private lawyers was rationalized. In the past, the AG hired KAA to get involved into the prosecution of Kizza Besigye and the prestigious law firm suffered a lot of public criticism and scrutiny. This is something government must have learn some lessons from. The petitioner’s side had also considered summoning MPs Moses Balyeku and Margaret Muhanga for cross examination on the strength of their affidavits but that has since been abandoned after the two allegedly played hide and seek saying they are away in UK and South Africa for official duty. “We have given up on them since today (Tuesday)’s witnesses have given us a lot of information,” said a source close to the petitioners. For comments, call/text/whatsapp us on 0703164755!
