Members of the opposition have prayed that the Director of Public Prosecution-DPP be mandated to supervise the General Military Court martial. The prayer was made MPs led by the Shadow Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister, Medard Lubega Sseggona.
This proposal is contained in the Alternative Policy Statement by the Shadow Justice and Constitutional Affairs Ministry to the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee.
Sseggona in his submission, said the opposition intends to propose that the DPP takes over supervision of some of the operations of the Court Martial.
“We are actually opposed to the provision that the UPDF can continue to prosecute civilians in the court martial, and therefore deny them protection of the DPP. As opposition, we remain opposed to this. At an appropriate time we shall present proposals for a constitutional amendment to allow the DPP to supervise some of the operations of court martial” Ssegona said.
Under Article 102 of the Constitution, the DPP is provided for as an autonomous institution mandated to handle and prosecute all criminal cases in the country in any court, except the court martial.
Now, Sseggona contends that since court martial is established outside Article 129 of the constitution, it cannot be taken as an impartial and independent court. He argues that the independence of the judiciary is in built under Article 28 of the constitution whereby once a judge is appointed, he can't be directed by the president unlike members of the Army court who can be directed, re-deployed or demoted.
Kaberamaido County MP Veronica Elagu Bikyetero, agrees, saying the continued trial of civilians in the Court Martial is an abuse of human rights. She threw her weight behind the opposition call to mandate the DPP to supervise the army court.
