Musene: The bold judge roars no more

Shortly after the contested 2016 presidential polls, Dr Kizza Besigye, the runner up, was rounded up and charged with treason.
The treason charges against the four-time presidential candidate arose after a video clip made rounds on social media, showing him allegedly swearing-in himself as the next president of Uganda at an undisclosed location.
The alleged swearing-in happened on May 11, 2016, which happened to be the eve of President Museveni’s swearing-in for the fifth elective term in office.
Dr Besigye was first charged with treason in Moroto District before he was transferred to Nakawa Court in Kampala and charged afresh.

After spending close to two months on remand at Luzira prison, the former president of the Opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party applied to be released on bail.
Justice Wilson Masalu Musene was the judge designated to hear Dr Besigye’s bail application.
Stakes were high given that Dr Besigye was the main Opposition challenger at the time and any judicial official to handle his bail application was in the limelight.
The prosecution led by Ms Florence Akello had vehemently opposed the release of Dr Besigye on bail, arguing that he had not provided court with enough documented evidence such as his birth certificate.

But Justice Musene overruled the objection by the prosecution on grounds that the state had not tabled evidence to disprove that Besigye wasn’t 60 years.
Justice Musene also overruled another ground in which the prosecution had accused Dr Besigye of carrying out defiance campaign at the time and that he shouldn’t be released on bail.

Releasing Besigye
Justice Musene observed that the matter on defiance was, at the time, before the Constitutional Court and therefore it would be subjudice to talk about it.
“Having weighed all the circumstances and factors one after the other (advanced age, attending previous court sessions and the sureties presented), I am inclined to grant bail to the applicant,” ruled Justice Musene.
He went ahead and released the politician on a non-cash bail of Shs100m.
Equally, each of the four sureties that Dr Besigye presented, including Gen Mugisha Muntu, were also bonded Shs100m not cash.

The same treason case was later secretly withdrawn by the State after there were no witnesses to testify against Dr Besigye.
“This is to inform court that the director of public prosecutions has decided to discontinue proceedings against Rtd Col Kizza Besigye Kifefe charged with treason,” the 2019 withdrawal form signed by then DPP Mike Chibita read in part.
A year to his retirement in 2021, the United States government, through the US Department of Treasury, imposed financial sanctions and visa restrictions on Justice Musene alongside his retired colleague Justice Moses Mukiibi, advocate Dorah Mirembe and her husband, Patrick Ecobu.

The group was indicted for their alleged involvement in activities that victimised young children in a corrupt adoption scheme.
The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in its 2020 statement; noted that Justice Musene and group allegedly participated in a scam that saw young children removed from their families in Uganda and placed into a corrupt adoption network, aided by the facilitation of officials.

Justice Musene worked in several duty stations including Mpigi High Court, Kampala High Court with Soroti High Court being his last duty station before retirement in March 2021.
According to the tentative burial programme for Justice Musene who died on Sunday evening, there will be a funeral service at St Andrew’s Cathedral in Mbale City on Thursday. The body will then depart for his residence at Bugema B with burial being slated for Saturday in Kuushu Town Council, Bududa District.
Justice Musene, who died at 67, will also be remembered for his contribution towards the expansion of his local church, St Paul Church, Bulucheke in Bududa District  and for paying school fees for hundreds of vulnerable children. He will also be remembered for his sense of humour during court.