Six more Kampala councilors granted bail

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Buganda Road Magistrates Court has granted bail to six Lord Councilors out of nine who face charges of inciting violence.

Those that have been granted bail included Faisal Kibirige, Gadhafi Nasur, Mosh Ssendi, Afrikan, Paul Kato and Moses Kataabu.

Court presided over by Grade One Magistrate Sanula Nambozo granted the Councilors  a cash bail of sh500,000 and their sureties bonded at sh2 million not cash, just like their co accused, who were released last week.

However, the same court declined to grant bail to Richard Ssembatya, Charles Mpindi and Mushin Kakande on grounds that the documents presented by the sureties had discrepancies and were therefore questionable. The trio has been further remanded till  February, 17th 2022.

The release and denial of bail follow a partly successful application for bail filed by the lawyers of the Councilors led by Kenneth Paul Kakande and Erias Lukwago who argued that they were beaten in the process of arresting them and they had injuries they needed to treat.

Court also heard that the offenses against the Councilors are bail-able and that it is their constitutional right to be granted bail.

The Prosecution alleges that on, February 3, the 14 councilors and others still at large, incited members of the public to demonstrate violently against the officials of KCCA by reason of their office to remove street vendors from the streets of Kampala city.

According to the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions -DPP the crime was committed along Allen Road in Kampala Central, Kampala district. However, denied the charges hence their application for bail.

Those given bail today and those who have been further remanded were arrested two weeks ago together with Zahara Luyirika, the KCCA Speaker, Winnie Nansubuga, Rose Kigozi, Fausta Bitaano and Gadhafi Jafari Kamya who were in the first batch to be granted bail on Wednesday last week.

Trouble for the councilors started on February 4th 2022 when  they  went to Allen Street and started protesting against KCCA’s intensified operations against street vendors and hawkers in Kampala under their Smart City Campaign aimed at decongesting the city.

The operation has since left some vendors jobless due to confiscation of their goods and others are trading from Usafi and Segawa Market where they complain of poor sales.

As a result, the councilors laid a protest saying that the actions to remove vendors was illegal because in 2017, the council resolved to allocate Ssebaana Kizito, Allen, and Kafumbe Mukasa roads to street vendors to operate but the technocrats wing ignored it.

It is against this background that the councilors who all belong to the opposition National Unity Platform protested and were arrested and held at Central Police Station in Kampala where they spent a night before they could be sent on remand a day later.

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