Makindye west members of parliament; Allan Ssewanyana and Muhammad Ssegirinya; member of parliament for Kawempe north have finally been granted bail after spending two years on remand. The two honorable members have been accused of masterminding the killings in Masaka that happened in 2021.
The two honorable members were arrested on 7th September 2021. On the 21st of September, they were granted bail unfortunately, they were rearrested outside Kigo prison thus placing new charges upon them.
On October 25th, they were denied bail on grounds that they were charged with capital offenses. The legal team of the honorable members of parliament appealed to the high court in the hope of bail unfortunately, on 29th of June 2022, the court of appeal also denied them bail.
On November 7th, 2022, their other request for bail was again declined. With today’s approval of the bail, the two honorable members of parliament have spent 524 days in prison. This makes a total of 17 months or a year and five months.
Upon approval of the bail, the court asked the honorable members to pay cash bonds of Ugx 20 million each. On top of the cash bonds, the honorable were tasked to leave their passports behind too. Their sureties were tasked to pay non-cash bonds of Ugx 50 million each.
One of the reasons that have been presented to have the bail approved has been the deteriorating health condition of Honorable Allan Ssewanyana. With their passports held by the court, it means that Honorable Allan Ssewanyana and Muhammed Ssegirinya cannot go outside the East African community for treatment.
The only option available is to use their national identity cards for treatment in Nairobi. It should be noted that most of the Uganda government dignitaries often get their treatment in Nairobi Kenya. It is often only until things fail to work out in Nairobi that treatment is sought elsewhere.