{"id":18901,"date":"2021-10-04T15:38:46","date_gmt":"2021-10-04T15:38:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/?p=18901"},"modified":"2021-10-04T14:47:01","modified_gmt":"2021-10-04T14:47:01","slug":"dont-blame-me-for-bail-law-says-odoki","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/dont-blame-me-for-bail-law-says-odoki","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t blame me for bail law, says Odoki"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press<\/a> – Uganda<\/a>. <\/strong><\/span>Former Chief Justice Benjamin Odoki has responded to accusations that his Constitutional Review Commission ignored views that recommended bail not be granted to suspects facing certain offences.<\/p>\n

This comes after President Museveni last week shifted the blame to the Constituent Assembly (CA) that \u201cdebated our report for two full years and came to that conclusion on bail.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an interview yesterday, Justice Odoki said the commission only made recommendations to the CA whose members were elected by the people to represent them.<\/p>\n

The former chief justice also said the representatives should have asked the public whether the stand on bail was right before adopting it in the 1995 Constitution.<\/p>\n

He added that the Constitution is not static and it can be amended when need arises.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Constitution is not a statute as it can be subject to interpretation, expansion, clarity and amendments. Even now, some people are saying bail should not be given, others are saying it should be given,\u201d said Justice Odoki.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe debate will continue and I don\u2019t know how it will end – whether in a referendum – but it\u2019s healthy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Last week President Museveni singled him out for the current state of bail terms.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a way [Justice Odoki] suppressed our line, which is the line of the masses,\u201d the President said while addressing judges at the fourth Benedicto Kagimu Kiwanuka Memorial Lecture.<\/p>\n

Mr Museveni added that he checked the minutes of the Constitutional Review Commission and discovered that people did not want bail for certain offences.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut when his lordship [Odoki] wrote his final report, they brought in this thing of giving discretion to the Judiciary to give bail or not even in capital offences\u2026We have been told that bail is a right. Really?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Justice Odoki, however, said the recommendations that were presented to the CA were not personal and promised that the matter would be resolved amicably. In 1989, Justice Odoki was appointed chairperson of the Constitutional Review Commission.<\/p>\n

The Odoki commission was mandated to collect views of the public and prepare a draft constitution for Uganda. The draft was debated and adopted by an elected CA in 1995.<\/p>\n

Elections were held in Uganda on March 28, 1994 to pick 214 of the 284 CA delegates.<\/p>\n

These would be tasked with drawing up the country\u2019s new constitution.<\/p>\n

Although all candidates formally run as independents, it was estimated that 146 of the 214 elected members were representatives of the NRM. The 68 were viewed as Opposition-leaning.<\/p>\n

A further 70 members were appointed with each registered political party nominating two members and each of the 39 districts nominating a female representative.<\/p>\n

Ten other members were nominated by the army, four by the National Youth Council, two by the National Organisation of Trade Unions, and one by the National Union of Disabled People.<\/p>\n

This saw the promulgation of the new constitution with the presidential and parliamentary elections being held in 1996.<\/p>\n

MUSEVENI RECHOES STAND ON BAIL<\/b><\/p>\n

President Museveni last week re-echoed his wish to have bail for suspected capital offenders, especially those facing murder, scrapped or have the accused persons first stay on remand for the mandatory 180 days before being released on bail. The President clashed with Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo over the matter, saying the practice is provoking the public who have since started resorting to mob action to resolve disputes in their communities.Mr Museveni said he would instead find a political solution to the matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cReally!, somebody has killed a person and you see him walking around, that is a provocation I am telling you. It\u2019s a provocation, we can\u2019t accept it,\u201d he said. However, in response, the Chief Justice said: \u201cThe Constitution gives discretion to judicial officers to grant bail but the exercise of discretion must be judiciously done. A judicial officer cannot wake up from the wrong side of the bed and deny bail to an applicant or wake up from the right side of their bed and grant bail.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that capital offences are a grave concern to the community, so in exercise of judicial discretion, it\u2019s the duty of the judicial officer to look at all these circumstances and make a decision whether to grant or not to grant,\u201d he added. During his national address last Friday, the President again warned the Judiciary and police against granting bail and bond to murder suspects.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the side of bail, we are going to discuss with all the stakeholders the NRM caucus people, the wananchi(citizens), in the country side and Judiciary to see how we stop bail being used to cover criminals,\u201dMr Museveni said.<\/p>\n

The right to bail is a fundamental right guaranteed by Article 23 (6) of the 1995 Constitution. In Article 28, it states that an accused person is to be presumed innocent until he\/she is proved or he\/she pleads guilty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. Former Chief Justice Benjamin Odoki has responded to accusations that his Constitutional Review Commission ignored views that recommended bail not be granted to suspects facing certain offences. This comes after President Museveni last week shifted the blame to the Constituent Assembly (CA) that \u201cdebated our report for two full years and came […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":18900,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,8,12],"tags":[233,240,234],"class_list":["post-18901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-homepage-english","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-uganda","tag-uganda"],"yoast_head":"\nDon\u2019t blame me for bail law, says Odoki - Uganda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Former Chief Justice Benjamin Odoki has responded to accusations that his Constitutional Review Commission ignored views ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/dont-blame-me-for-bail-law-says-odoki\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Don\u2019t blame me for bail law, says Odoki\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Former Chief Justice Benjamin Odoki has responded to accusations that his Constitutional Review Commission ignored views ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/dont-blame-me-for-bail-law-says-odoki\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Uganda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-10-04T15:38:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/10\/img-615b13cd1458f.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/dont-blame-me-for-bail-law-says-odoki#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/dont-blame-me-for-bail-law-says-odoki\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Don\u2019t blame me for bail law, says Odoki\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-10-04T15:38:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/dont-blame-me-for-bail-law-says-odoki\"},\"wordCount\":813,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/dont-blame-me-for-bail-law-says-odoki#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/10\/img-615b13cd1458f.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Uganda\",\"uganda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"homepage-english\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/dont-blame-me-for-bail-law-says-odoki#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/dont-blame-me-for-bail-law-says-odoki\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/dont-blame-me-for-bail-law-says-odoki\",\"name\":\"Don\u2019t blame me for bail law, says Odoki - 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