The judiciary will compose a new panel of Constitutional Court Justices to hear an application in which incarcerated lawyer Male Mabirizi wants the criminal charges against the Kawempe North Member of Parliament, Muhammad Ssegirinya, and his Makindye West counterpart Allan Ssewanyana dropped.
the development was revealed by Justice Catherine Bamugemereire on Thursday in the presence of Mabirinzi and Richard Adrole as well as Jonathan Muwaganya, both state attorneys from the Attorney General's Chambers and Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions-DPP respectively.
The case had been fixed for hearing before a panel of judges comprising Lady Justice Catherine Bamugemeire, Stephen Musota, Irene Mulyagonja, Muzamiru Mutangula Kibeedi, and Monica Mugenyi.
However, Justices Musota and Mugenyi were no show when the matter came up for hearing.
Justice Bamugemereire who led the panel of three Justices that presided over the matter said that the Constitutional Court Administration had decided to change the panel, which explained why it was not fully constituted. She, however, didn't delve into details about why the decision was made to change the panel.
She noted that a fresh hearing date will be communicated to the parties as soon as possible once the panel is constituted.
Prior to the communication, Mabirizi who was under the serious watch of prison warders demand an explanation of why the composition looked like for a Court of Appeal where only three Justices preside over the matter as opposed to five Justices.
In September 2021, Mabirizi sued the Attorney General for slapping additional charges of terrorism, aiding and abetting terrorism, murder, and attempted murder against Ssegirinya and Ssewanyana moments after being released on bail for murder. Police arrested the two legislators on September 7th, 2021 in Masaka district shortly after securing bail from Masaka High Court.
The charges stem from their alleged involvement in the Greater Masaka region machete killings, which claimed the lives of more than 20 people between July and September 2021. On September 21st, 2021, the court granted them bail of Shillings 20 million before the state slapped with them an additional charge of murdering Joseph Bwanika, eight days later.
