Last week was dominated by the news of the arrest for and extradition of Ugandan opposition leader, Col. (Rtd) Dr. Kizza Bwesigye and his co-accused Hajji Obed Lutale from Kenya.
The duo after four days was arraigned before the seven-panel member of the General Court Martial siting at Makindye led by Brig Robert Freeman Mugabe and duo was charged with offenses related to security of this Country and unlawful possession of two pistols loaded with eight live bullets were they allegedly committed between October and 16th November with others still at large in Geneva in Switzerland, Athens in Greece and our neighboring Kenya.
In a recent exclusive interview, our reporter had the with Rtd. High Court Judge John Bosco Katutsi, who had one of the controversial cases against Besigye.
Justice Katutsi reveals how he had problems with his immediate boss when he granted Besigye bail after other judges had chickened out. His revelations are to be in the next story.
“If I was not careful with controversial cases like the one against Besigye, I would not have reached a level of an international judge because during my carrier as a high Court Judge, that made me to serve both in Monrovia and Sierra Lean after I retired as High Court judge” Justice Katutsi said from his Rukungiri residence.
He revealed, how he was forced to refuse to hear the second treason case against the then Opposition political leader and four-time presidential candidate Dr Kizza Besigye after getting wind that it had been sent to him to collude with government.
Commenting on some of the memorable controversial cases he handled, Katutsi began where Besigye was charged of raping Joanita Kyakuwa in 2001 in which the state presented seven witnesses who were guided by former deputy DPP Simon Mugenyi Byabakama now chairman of the Electoral Commission.
“This was the most framed case in a childish manner that no sane person would convict the accused,” said Justice Katutsi, now clocking 83.
He further reveals that those who followed the proceedings, Kyakuwa’s testimony lacked credibility and had a number of inconsistencies.
She could for example not remember the day or month that she was raped or how old she was at the time and the judge says there was no way Kyakuwa, who was an undergraduate student at the time of the alleged rape, could have forgotten the day and month she claims to have been raped.
Judge Katutsi also poured scorn on the testimony of the Director of the Police Criminal Investigations Department then Elizabeth Kuteesa, who was accused among other things to have doctored the police entry register by backdating the entry of the controversial case.
Katutsi has built around himself an image of a no-nonsense judge in the eyes of the general public, say, he is proud that he was not a cadre judge but a cadre to the Uganda Constitution and other judicial laws the reason why when he gave Besigye bail after his illegal stay in prison, no one appealed his verdict save for the army’s act of storming Court premises attacking the Temple of Justice.
Katutsi maintains that another reason he chose to withdraw from hearing the Besigye treason case is because he did not want to be seen as an expert in Besigye’s political multiple charges.
In 2006, Katutsi acquitted former MPs Ronald Reagan Okumu and Michael Ocula over murder charges.
Commenting on this case, Katusti says he found that prosecution had failed to prove its case as he also found that the case was intended to intimate political foes of President Museveni ahead of presidential elections.
When he became head of the Anti-Corruption Court, Katutsi, among those he found guilty imprisonment was Teddy Seezi Cheeye, whom he found guilty of embezzlement and forgery charges.
Katutsi accordingly sentenced Cheeye now deceased, a former top editor Uganda Confidential to 10 years imprisonment.
Earlier in 2001, Katutsi found former Toro Kingdom Prime Minister John Katuramu, who was released on September 11, 2021, after serving 20 years in Luzira prison for the murder of Prince Charles Happy Kijanangoma in 1999.
Katuramu and his co convicts were sentenced to face death, but they were later committed to life imprisonment, which is equivalent to 20 years minus remission. This was after another convict Susan Kigula and 400 other death row inmates successfully appealed against their sentence in the Supreme Court in 2009.
When contacted later for a comment Chris Rakasisi who was released on prerogative of mercy by president Museveni, said Kigula did not initiate the Supreme Court appeal but was fronted because other inmates like him feared that if they fronted themselves, the appeal could flop.
Katutsi maintains that he had never succumbed to influence from anyone, be it the state or any other authority during his discharge of justice throughout his service as a judicial officer since 1972.
Asked to weigh which criminal case gave him a big burden Katutsi said, “All cases gave various burdens, whoever winners jubilate and whoever loses hates a judge for his or her decision the reason for appeals”.
He retired in 2011 after clearing his last assignment with the judicial desk in which he convicted the then NSSF Managing Director David Chandi Jamwa for causing financial loss of over Shs3bn to the fund.
He says he is very grateful to President Museveni for raising emoluments for retiring judges and justices because I am financially stable farming and raring.
However, Katutsi objected to raising the retirement ages of judges and justices, saying they should retire when they still have stamina to do other beneficial things.
He is married with nine children. Eight are graduates, and two are lawyers- like father like children.
By; Siraje Lubwama,
Senior Investigative Journalist in crime, court land matters, human Rights.
Freelance Journalist, Alternative Digitalk