By Musa Mbogo
The Uganda Law Society (ULS) has petitioned the Supreme Court to urgently deliver its long-pending judgment in a constitutional appeal involving the Attorney General and former Office of the Prime Minister Principal Accountant, Geoffrey Kazinda, warning that continued delays amount to unlawful detention.
In a letter dated December 17, 2025, addressed to the Administrator of the Supreme Court, Justice Lillian Tibatemwa-Ekirikubinza, the Law Society expresses concern that Kazinda has remained incarcerated for over a decade despite favorable rulings from appellate courts.
Kazinda has been held at Luzira Upper Prison since October 2012.
The letter, signed by ULS Vice President Anthony Asiimwe, follows repeated appeals by Kazinda, his legal team, and family members, who argue that justice has been unduly delayed in the matter.
The Law Society further raises alarm over the impending retirement of Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo, who chaired the six-member panel that heard the appeal.
Owiny-Dollo is expected to retire in about a month upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70.
ULS warns that if the Chief Justice exits office before delivering the judgment, the court may have to reconstitute a new panel—an exercise likely to prolong the case even further.
Kazinda’s legal ordeal dates back to June 2013, when the High Court convicted him of embezzlement and forgery and sentenced him to eight years in prison.
However, those convictions were later overturned by the Court of Appeal, which cleared him in separate criminal appeals.
In August 2020, the Constitutional Court ruled that Kazinda had been subjected to continuous and unlawful prosecutions arising from the same set of allegations.
The court ordered his immediate discharge in all pending cases and barred the State from prosecuting him again on the same matters.
The Attorney General, dissatisfied with the decision, obtained a stay of execution and appealed to the Supreme Court.
The appeal was first heard in November 2021 and later re-heard in July 2024 after the panel was reconstituted following the death and retirement of some Justices.
More than a year later, the Supreme Court has yet to deliver its judgment.
The Uganda Law Society now argues that Kazinda’s continued incarceration is solely the result of the Supreme Court’s failure to pronounce itself on the appeal, despite prior court decisions ordering his release.
ULS says the prolonged delay undermines constitutional guarantees of liberty and fair hearing, and has called on the court to urgently resolve the matter in the interests of justice and the rule of law. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
