Kawempe North Member of Parliament, Muhammad Ssegirinya has regained temporary freedom after Buganda Road Magistrate’s Court granted him bail on the charges of inciting violence.
Ssegirinya was granted bail of Shillings 1 million in cash by the Grade One Magistrate, Doreen Olga Karungi and also ordered each of his two sureties to execute a bond of Shillings 10 million not cash in cash.
The legislator presented Wandegeya Ward councilor Thomas Bagonza, and his Wampewo Ward counterpart in Ruteete Parish in Wakiso district, Apollo Ariho.
Ssegirinya in his application filed through his lawyers led by Kampala Woman Member of parliament, Shamim Malende, told the court that he is innocent until proven guilty and that the charges against him are bailable by the Magistrate’s Court.
He further noted that during his admission at Mulago National Referral Hospital, doctors reportedly told him that one of his rotting feet had developed cancer-like cells, but they couldn’t tell the specific type of cancer.
The lawyer argued that his client has High Blood Pressure and kidney complications, which require specialized attention.
Ssegirinya appeared in court via zoom from Murchison Bay prison in Luzira and complained of stomach complications, saying he need to conduct a scan to ascertain its cause, which he can’t get in the prisons.
The MP also accused Prison officials of denying him a chance to attend Friday prayers like other inmates and subjecting him to medical interns at Mulago Hospital who handled him in a degrading manner.
The State Attorney, Peter Mugisha strongly objected to the bail application, arguing that although Ssegirinya has not yet been convicted, the charges against him show that he is not a responsible member of society.
The state also argued that Ssegirinya is a threat to national security for having incited violence to the extent of calling for genocide, adding that there was no medical report to support his claims of illness.
Mugisha said that given that the legislator is facing capital offenses in Masaka High Court related to murder and terrorism, he is not a respectable member of society as his lawyers had stated.
However, Karungi in her ruling, allowed the application, saying that although there is no medical report confirming the legislator’s illness, he sometimes back displayed a rotting foot to the court and looked physically ill.
She further noted that the Uganda Prisons Services have failed to present him in court on several occasions on the account of his ill health and that this was sufficient evidence that Ssegirinya is sick and needs medical attention.
She granted him bail and adjourned the case to December 22nd, 2021.
