Judge apologises for Kwoyelo delayed trial

“I want to apologise on behalf of Uganda and not only the Judiciary for the delayed trial of Thomas Kwoyelo. This is a very shameful thing for us as a court. I can’t cover it in any way,” Justice Okalany said last Friday during a court outreach in Abera Village, Obiya Ngic Sub-ward in Pabbo Township in Amuru District.

However, the judge was quick to point out some challenges that the judicial system faced that highly contributed to the delay of the trial.
“But there are some explanations to that effect like Kwoyelo challenging the Amnesty Act before the Constitutional Court on why some of his superiors were granted amnesty and yet his request was not honoured. This took some time to be determined. There was Covid-19, then, challenges of resources can’t be ignored,” the judge explained.

Justice Okalany added: “But we hope to conclude this matter around mid-year. I also want to say that the recent transfer of the new registrar (Ms Juliet Hatanga) to the court is a game changer as she is pushing things to have this matter concluded as fast as possible. But I really apologise for the delay; it’s a verdict on our justice system.”

The judge also revealed that Kwoyelo, according to prison authorities, had attempted to commit suicide because he never saw his trial coming to an end.

Likewise, Justice Richard Wabwire Wejuli, another judge who had travelled for the same outreach, acknowledged the delayed conclusion of the Kwoyelo trial before assuring the residents that by mid-year, a verdict should have been rendered.

“The court is very much alive to these challenges. The delay has mainly been due to logistical challenges but not lack of interest to prosecute the matter,” Justice Wabwire explained.

He added: “But the good thing is that the case has come to the last leg of its conclusion after the court recently made a finding that Kwoyelo has a case to answer by upholding 78 counts out of the 93 that had been slapped against him. So subject to availability of resources, this matter should be closed by mid this year.”

Ms Hatanga also decried the delayed conclusion of the trial before saying the same has affected the exhumation and reburial of the bodies of the people brutally killed during the Kony war.

“Some of the locals were grumbling about why the matter had taken so long and that this has put on halt the exhumation of the remains of their beloved ones and that this exhumation hasn’t taken place because this matter hasn’t been concluded,”Ms Hatanga said.
She added: “Since peace has returned to their communities, they wanted to relocate the bodies of their beloved ones buried in internally displaced people’s camps back to their villages.”

Ms Hatanga, however, said the State cannot allow the exhumation of the bodies now because they are considered a crime scene.
She said  the outreach was held because they were preparing for Kwoyelo’s defence by looking out for defence witnesses from the communities ravaged by the Kony war.

Earlier during a court session, one of Kyowelo’s lawyers, Mr Caleb Alaka, said he plans to have 50 witnesses to defend himself.
He also said the defence team would be ready to start defending Kwoyelo from February 5 because they would have completed assessing their would-be witnesses by February 4.
Mr Alaka also urged Pabbo Township residents with useful information that they can use in defending Kwoyelo to approach them in confidence.