The hearing of ‘incitement of violence case’ against the jailed Kawempe North MP Muhammad Ssegirinya has failed to take off today following the untimely demise of the speaker of parliament Jacob Oulanyah on Sunday.
The prosecution had lined up three police officers to testify against Ssengirinya but due to the ongoing process of mourning the speaker, the trial could not proceed given that all his lawyers are members of parliament directly engaged in this process.
Ssegirinya’s lawyer Shamim Malende has instead asked the trial magistrate at Buganda Road, Siena Owomugisha to adjourn the case to a later date which will also enable the new advocate in the matter; Medard Lubega Ssegona to study the case file.
Malende has further explained that MPs who are lawyers are busy in their respective political parties holding caucus meetings in preparation for the selection, nomination, and subsequent elections of the new speaker to replace Oulanyah.
The magistrate has pushed the hearing of the case to April 28th as Ssegirinya goes back on remand at Kigo prison where he is held on other capital charges of terrorism, murder, and attempted murder; all offenses relating to the spate of murders that swept the greater Masaka Region last year.
Prosecution states that before Ssegirinya allegedly connived with his Makindye East MP Allan Ssewanyana to terrorize the people of Masaka with machetes (pangas), he posted a message on his official Facebook page “Ssegirinya Muhammad Fans page ” that is calculated to incite the public against a section or group of Ugandan population while relating it to the 1994 Rwandan Genocide.