Appeals Court starts hearing 43 petitions
Male Mabirizi arriving at Buganda Road Magistrates Court recently. PHOTO | URN
What you need to know:
- Another petition that could be considered is that of jailed lawyer Male Mabirizi Kiwanuka.
The Constitutional Court is set to start hearing 43 constitutional petitions seeking different interpretations and orders against government.
The hearing, according to the cause list, starts today in Kampala before two panels of justices.
Some of the petitions to be handled stretch back as far as 2017.
Some of the petitions include that of Mityana Municipality MP Francis Zaake who is challenging his removal from the position of Commissioner of Parliament on allegations of using his social media platform to insult the Speaker of Parliament, Ms Anita Among.
The other notable petition was filed by retired Supreme Court Justice Prof George W. Kanyeihamba and five others who are challenging the proposed bail reforms by President Museveni and his ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party.
Justice Kanyeihamba contends that President Museveni, the NRM party, and the Attorney General, Mr Kiryowa Kiwanuka, are hatching a plan to alter the Constitution and threaten the right to bail.
Another petition that could be considered is that of jailed lawyer Male Mabirizi Kiwanuka.
Mr Mabirizi is challenging the criminal proceedings instituted against jailed Kawempe North MP Muhammad Ssegirinya and his Makindye West counterpart Allan Ssewanyana over the Masaka killings in 2021.
Others include a petition challenging the Computer Misuse Act and the petition by a civil society organisation, Centre for Health, Human Rights and Development, seeking to compel the government to formulate and pass a law regulating termination of pregnancies.
The formulated panels comprises Deputy Chief Justice Richard Buteera, as the head, Justices Stephen Musota, Irene Mulyagonja, Muzamiru Mutangula Kibeed, and Monica Mugenyi, and Catherine Bamugemereire.
