Inside Justice Baguma’s Next Move On Defiant Besigye As Prisons Command Places Him, Lutale Under High Security Surveillances… – Ono Bwino

Justice Emmanuel Baguma of the Criminal Division of the High Court received the ruling of Justice Dr Douglas Singiza the chairperson of the Judicial Service Commission clearing him to proceed with presiding over the trial of opposition strongman Dr Kizza Besigye, his political assistant Al-Hajji Obed Lutale Kamulegeya and Captain Denis Oola.

Justice Baguma personally received Justice Singiza’s ruling on Thursday morning at his chambers where the Judicial Service Commission dismissed the complaint filed against him by serial city litigant Kassim Male Mabirizi accusing him of being incompetent and mismanaging Besigye and others criminal trial.

“The Disciplinary Committee in its sitting held on 1st September 2025, resolved that the complaint be closed as it does not disclose any misconduct against Hon Justice Emmanuel Baguma. It was the finding of the Disciplinary Committee that the complaint did not meet the admissibility criteria under Regulation 38, 39 and 40 of the Judicial Service Regulations 2025,” a letter reads in part.

However, Mabirizi protested against the decision insisting that he is going to proceed to the High Court and institute charges against the person of Justice Baguma and Singiza alleging that the two judicial officers are shielding the violation of the country’s constitution and rights of the accused persons who on several occasions through their lawyers have pleaded with Justice Baguma to recuse himself from their trial citing biaseness against them.

This website has established that Dr Besigye and Baguma have also filed their separate complaint against Baguma which has not yet been determined by the Judicial Service Commission even though Mabirizi is claiming that whatever decision is being made by the Commission is illegal because of the absence of the Uganda Law Society representatives.

The development comes at a time when Justice Baguma has set 1^st October, 2025 as the date when he will kick-off the hearing of the trial of the accused persons and also 8^th October when he will entertain the third bail application filed by Besigye and Lutale even though their lawyers assured him that they will never again appear before him citing the expiration of their legal instructions from their clients.

Justice Baguma boasted that he is not concerned about the lawyers’ claim noting that he has already directed the deputy registrar of the Division to issue a production warrant against the accused person to appear before him on both dates without fail.

However, prisons spokesperson Frank Baine told Ono Bwino online that prisons does not have any issue with delivering Besigye and Lutale to Court but the problem is that they told them that they will never to appear before Justice Baguma.

“Besigye is not sick, that one I can assure you but he is playing those sick tricks to avoid appearing before Justice Baguma. The only problem we have with him is tarnishing our name that he is sick and that we are failing to manage his sickness which is not true,” Baine said.

Because of the pressure Besigye has placed on prison command at Upper prisons Luzira, his henchman Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda revealed that his security has been beefed up and his movements inside the prison is strictly monitored. Anyone who visits him is also closely monitored by the Officer In Charge Brayn Mbazira a Special Forces Command (SFC) Commando.

Ssemujju told this website that one time, Besigye was locked inside Mbazira’s office because prison bosses were scared upon learning that there is an electronic gadget which was smuggled inside the prison to help Besigye record his political message to his supporters especially members of the People’s Front for Freedom (PFF) encouraging them to prepare well for the coming general election even though he is out of circulation.

“But we received the message, Besigye told our people to use the coming elections as a tool to fight bad governance in our country. The Officer in Charge was shocked but I told him that Besigye is rebel fighter who knows how to play his intelligence cards,” Ssemujju boasted.

But Baine told this website that whatever information is circulating in the public about Besigye’s audio was fake and they uses AI technology to create Besigye’s audio message.

This website has exclusively established that Justice Baguma is strategizing on how to handle Besigye’s trial since he is not ready to recuse himself from the trial to avoid setting a bad precedent where politicians chase judicial officers from their criminal trials citing biasness yet they swore to deliver justice without fear or favour.

On that ground, highly placed sources close to Justice Baguma told this website that Justice Baguma has already allowed the prosecution led by Lino Anguzo to amend the committal papers giving him powers to try the accused persons instead of taking them to International Crimes Division of the High Court where the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) committed them.

However, the problem is that even though the accused persons are forced to appear before him, their lawyers will not be present and court cannot proceed without them having lawyers of their choice either on State brief or private.

Kampala Lord Mayor Ssalongo Erias Lukwago one of the lead lawyers told this website that they will never appear before Justice Baguma again and Oola’s lawyer Denis Kisiri also confirmed that his client wants Justice Baguma out of his trial.

Besigye and Lutale were kidnapped from Nairobi Kenya and charged before the military Court in November 2024 before being  transferred to a civilian court where they were charged with offences of planning to assassinate President Museveni, overthrow his government and poison his top government officials, charges that all the accused persons deny.