Kakwenza wants Justice Singiza punished for "unprofessional" conduct

Self-exiled novelist Kakwenza Rukirabashaija has petitioned the Judicial Service Commission over what he termed as the “unprofessional” conduct of Justice Douglas Singiza.

Singiza is the presiding officer in Kakwenza’s trial at the Buganda Road Chief Magistrates Court. He was among the 16 judges who were recently appointed by President Museveni to the High Court in acting capacity.

In his petition, Kakwenza noted that Singiza presided over several illegalities, which gave a platform for the abuse of his human dignity and the judicial function, when he was first presented to his court.

Kakwenza was first presented to the Buganda Road Court on January 11, 2022 before he was charged with disturbing the peace of the President and offensive communication against his son Lt Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba.

Kakwenza said in his petition that he was just “smuggled” into court without his lawyer, and judge Singinza watered down his plea to have a fair presentation.

"Firstly, my lawyer Eron Kiiza and Mugisha Advocates, whose office is a stone’s throw away from the court premises, wasn’t informed that I would be produced in court, nor did the court allow me to contact him," Kakwenza said.

"I raised the issue to the presiding Chief Magistrate, Dr Douglas Singiza but he whittled it down," Kakwenza added.

Kakwenza added that he was presented to court with his hands, ankles and joints visibly swollen and his thighs, buttocks back oozing pus from the deep dermatological ulcerations inflicted upon him during torture, but the judge also played it down.

"I brought it to the Chief Magistrates attention, who witnessed my tortured condition but shockingly rushed to remand me to Kitalya prison in total disregard of the domestic human rights laws and other regional, continental and international charters that Uganda is signatory to," Kakwenza said in his petition.

The novelist was later granted a cash bail of Shs. 500,000, asked to deposit his passport and restrained from talking about his torture in the media.

Before he could regain his partial freedom, he was allegedly kidnapped by unknown people from Kitalya prison premises and taken to Makindye Military Police barracks where he was detained for hours before he was taken to his country home in Iganga at 3.30 am.

Now in his petition, the satirical writer said that Singiza was not “impartial” while presiding over this matter and appeared to "have been remote-controlled” by a higher power.

“The chief magistrate ought to have presided over my case with utmost impartiality without appearing to have been remote-controlled by my tormentors like a robot hired to proliferate political persecutions against me,” Kakwenza added.

"His actions were against The Uganda Code of Judicial Conduct who he MUST be subservient to as he dispenses justice," he wrote.

He said that a copy of his petition has been received by the registry of the commission, inspector of courts, court of judicature, chief justice of Uganda, ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, chambers of the principal judge, office of the speaker of parliament and Buganda Road Chief Magistrate's court.

The writer tasked the Judicial Service Commission to respond to his letter in a week, or suffer embarrassment in regional and global media outlets.

Kakwenza is currently self-exiled in Germany where he escaped shortly after being granted bail. He said that he escaped because of fear of “injustice.”

His sureties were made to pay after he escaped.