The decision was made by Butambala Grade One Magistrate Deogratious Sejjemba during a sitting held today, where the court was expected to review progress in a terrorism case against Kivumbi and his co-accused.
However, the hearing could not proceed after the State informed court that the police file was not available.
State Attorney Arthur Masaaba told court that the file could not be traced at the time and requested an adjournment to allow authorities to locate it.
“The police file in this matter is not here in court. It is my humble prayer for an adjournment so that we can follow up the file and proceed with the case,” Masaaba submitted.
The request was strongly opposed by the defence team, led by lawyer Samuel Muyizi, who accused the State of mishandling the case and failing to be transparent with the court.
Muyizi argued that the prosecution does not have a genuine case file and questioned the existence of recorded statements from the accused persons.
“Your Honour, the State is not being truthful in this matter. The reality is that they do not have a case file. All the accused persons know very well that there are no files relating to these charges. Not a single police statement was ever recorded from them,” Muyizi said.
He further alleged that the prosecution was using repeated adjournments to keep the accused on remand without sufficient evidence.
“The State is using court proceedings to prolong remand and continue detaining innocent people. One time the file is available and the prosecutor is absent, another time the prosecutor is present and the file is missing. Many of the accused are students whose universities are reopening, yet the State has failed to produce the file,” he added.
When asked by the magistrate to explain the missing file, Masaaba said it was his first time handling the matter and could not account for its absence, noting that the case had previously been handled by another prosecutor.
Magistrate Sejjemba later asked both sides to agree on a return date and urged them to follow up on the whereabouts of the file.
The matter was adjourned to July 16, 2026, when Kivumbi and his co-accused are expected to return to court.
Muwanga Kivumbi and 23 others were earlier charged with terrorism-related offences linked to the 2026 general election period.