After spending close to a year in Kitalya prison, NUP supporters were on Tuesday re-arraigned before the Makindye Military Court presided over by Lt. Gen. Andrew Gutti with hopes of hearing their bail application.
However they were stricken with shock after being informed that they were appearing for the hearing of their main case.
This prompted a one Muhysdin Kakooza to angrily yell that the only crime they were being accused of is supporting former Presidential Candidate Kyagulanyi Ssentamu aka Bobi Wine. He continued to cry out that they were rotting in prison cells over the poor conditions, adding that one day they would emerge victorious and wear the revolutionary crown.
In his enraged response, Lt Gen. Gutti ordered the Kitalya prison authorities to take Kakooza for a mental checkup at Butabika Hospital and if found mentally stable, will have to face charges for his actions.
Commenting on the subject on The Fatboy Show, Olive Najjuma said, “The constitution says that suspects are supposed to be presented in court and given bail after at least 120 days. And this guy says they've been in prison for a year and the prosecution keeps saying that they are still investigating, what kind of investigations are they doing? We’ve entered a second year after elections.”
Similarly, Fatboy, her Co-host on RX Radio expressed doubt towards the charges pressed on the group.
“And what are they being charged for? Being found in possession of ammunition? Let's not forget that it's only 4 rounds. I don’t understand how dozens of people can be rounded up for possessing 4 bullets! It's just wrong,” he said.
“Just have them answer to these charges whether legitimate or not but at least give them the right to bail, have them enjoy a semblance of normalcy because the longer they stay in jail, the longer they going to break because it’s psychologically traumatizing to have to live under those conditions,” he pled.
Given the alleged poor prison conditions, Olive said that Kakooza may not be in actual need of a psych evaluation. “I think Lt. Gutti is trying to play games here. Because considering how traumatic it must be to spend months on remand, every time these supporters go to court they are hopeful they will get bail but are instead sent back to prison,” she said.
Muhysdin Kakooza, a boda boda rider is one of the 32 NUP supporters that were arrested in areas of Jinja, Mbale, Kireka, Nankulabye among other places between November 2020 to May 2021. These are battling charges of illegal possession of 13 explosive devices contrary to the Section 3 (1) and 2(a) of the Firearms act of 2006.
The Fatboy show is hosted by James Onen aka Fatboy, Olive, Sarah and Lesham every weekday from 6am to 10am on RX Radio.