Judiciary leaves bail decision to judges

The Judiciary has set new rules for bail, auction, and representation of suspects in courts.
In its new bail practice direction guidelines launched yesterday, the Judiciary snubbed President Museveni’s opinion to deny bail to suspects facing capital charges until they have been in prison for at least 180 days.
In the new bail guidelines, the Judiciary states that suspects facing capital offenses, including terrorism, may be granted bail in exceptional circumstances.
This is contrary to the blanket proposal by the head of State late last year, to deny such suspects bail.

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The circumstances
“The High Court may, in exceptional circumstances, grant bail to a person accused of committing any of the following offenses; an offense triable by the High Court; terrorism and any other offense punishable by more than 10 years imprisonment under the Terrorism Act, 2002, rape, embezzlement, causing financial offense, corruption and any other offense in respect of which a magistrate’s court has no jurisdiction to grant bail,” the new bail rules read. 
The new guidelines dubbed “the Constitution (Bail Guidelines for Courts of Judicature), Practice Directions, 2022”, were officially launched by Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo in Kampala yesterday. 

The CJ listed some of the exceptional circumstances under which bail can be granted, including grave illness as certified by a medical officer of the prison or other institution or place where the accused person is detained, and as being incapable of adequate medical treatment while in custody, a certificate of no objection by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and either infancy or advanced age of the accused person.
President Museveni had late last year re-echoed the need for the Judiciary to deny suspects facing capital offenses such as murder, treason, terrorism, rape, and defilement bail until they had served 180 days on remand.

Mr Museveni claimed the practice of releasing such suspects was provoking the public into resorting to mob action to resolve such disputes in their communities.
He vowed that he would instead find a political solution to “this ever persisting practice by the Judiciary”, whom he accused of making bail “mandatory” instead of being “discretionary”.
However, during this year’s New Law year celebrations, President Museveni softened on his stand on bail.

He said he had left the issue to the Judiciary to come up with suitable guidelines, which were released yesterday.
The Chief Justice cited some of grounds that he thinks his judicial officers must consider before granting bail to suspects.
“Will the accused person return to court for trial? Will the suspect’s presence interfere with witnesses?” he cited.
The head of the Judiciary also said the other factor that judicial officers should put into consideration is whether the suspect will be safe [from mob action] when released back into the community.

New bail guidelines
Unlike before when the time to hear bail was open-ended, the new guidelines demand that a judicial officer has to hear and determine a bail application within one month.
There is now uniformity of bail terms issued by judicial officers, unlike before when judicial officers could give different bail terms on similar offenses.

Rights of complainant
The complainant can now raise their hand in court during bail application session and be given chance to speak out on issues that he/she thinks can have a bearing on the outcome of the bail ruling.

Bail for vulnerable persons
Court may now grant bail to a vulnerable person on his or her own recognizance or on recognizance being entered into by his or her parent, guardian or other responsible person, with or without sureties. The accused  can be released at such an amount of money as in the opinion of court.

Clear requirements for bail
Previously, the requirements for one to be released on bail seemed vague and not very clear. But now under the new guidelines, what is needed for a suspect to be released include a copy of the National Identity card or passport, or employment card or student identity card for students.
Previously, passports, work identity card or student identity cards were not considered as legal requirements. The other requirement is an introduction letter from the LC1 chairperson of the area where the applicant resides.
The other set of guidelines include; the Judicature Court Bailiffs Rules, 2022, the Judicature Amicus Curiae, Rules, 2022, and Judicature Legal Representation at the Expense of the State Rules, 2022.