Africa-Press – Uganda. NUP hires Turkish lawyer for Lumbuye
BY T he National Unity Platform (NUP) party has hired a Turkish lawyer to handle the controversy surrounding the deportation of government critic Fred Kajjubi Lumbuye, Daily Monitor can reveal.Sources handling the matter, who preferred anonymity in order to speak freely, told this newspaper that the identity of the lawyer remains concealed for fear of being compromised by the Uganda government.
On August 5, 2021, the lawyer petitioned the Attorney General of Turkey to block the impending deportation of Mr Lumbuye so that the matter could be handled in the local courts. The petition was granted.NUP is, however, according to sources, faced with a bill of $71,000 (about Shs255m) as legal fees to make sure that Mr Lumbuye gets asylum in the Netherlands. The Opposition party has since started a covert fundraising spearheaded by their coordinators across the world.
By yesterday, the political party, through their diaspora teams, had collected up to $20,000 (about Shs70m), which had been handed to the lawyer in two instalments of $15,000 and $5,000.“The moment this money is found, Lumbuye will straight away be taken to the Netherlands, which is the country that is most interested in the matter by now,,” the source told Daily Monitor in an interview yesterday.
Sources also revealed that Mr Lumbuye was still being held under Turkish custody and can only be accessed by lawyers.According to Interpol processes, the country seeking the extradition of the suspect must first seek a court order in their country and then apply for Interpol’s help to find the accused. The Interpol constitution, however, doesn’t respond to offences that are political in nature. Article 3 of the Interpol Constitution strictly forbids them from undertaking any intervention or activities that are political, military, religious or racial in nature.Last month, President Museveni asked security agencies to deal with Ugandans in foreign countries who post fake news on social media that dent his image and that of the country.
This was after the President was declared dead on social media. By press time, sources intimated to Daily Monitor that the NUP leadership was working to facilitate the travel of one of their lawyers, Mr Anthony Wameli, to Turkey to coordinate with the hired lawyer to make sure that Mr Lumbuye is not deported. Mr Francis Zaake, the Mityana Municipality MP, who has been handling the matter on behalf of NUP in Turkey, acknowledged that there is some money needed from them as legal fees.
“It is true the lawyers this side are more expensive than the ones in Uganda but our friends across the world are ready to help. We have been working hard to see that Lumbuye gets a safe haven in another country and any time from now, he will be on the next plane to the Netherlands,” Mr Zaake said in a WhatsApp audio call.Last week, social media reports indicated that Mr Lumbuye had been picked up by unknown gunmen from his house in Istanbul, Turkey, over unclear offences.
In a press conference two days later, Foreign Affairs State minister Henry Oryem-Okello told journalists he had just heard about the arrest of Mr Lumbuye but hadn’t confirmed it. Yesterday, police spokesperson Fred Enanga told journalists that they did not have Mr Lumbuye in their custody and would update the public about the same once they got clear information.
Cases against Lumbuye
Mr Joel Ssenyonyi, the NUP spokesperson, said the police and government of Uganda, which had earlier on pronounced themselves on Mr Lumbuye, should tell the public where the critic has been taken.“It’s been three days since Lumbuye was expected in the country but he hasn’t surfaced anywhere. Now that Uganda government officials were aware of the trip and said they would hold him for questioning on return, they should account for his whereabouts,” Mr Ssenyonyi said.BACKGROUND In September 2018, Mr Kato Kajubi, a son of late Prof William Ssenteza Kajubi, a former vice chancellor of Makerere University, was arrested at Entebbe International Airport as he returned from the USA. Police accused him and others still at large of offensive communication and tarnishing the image of government abroad by holding protests in the USA against the constitution amendment to remove the presidential age limits.
