MP Ssegirinya’s mother, wife court Parliament over speedy trial
Ms Justine Nakajumba, the mother of Hon Muhammad Ssegirinya, the Kawempe Division North MP and his wife, Twahila Akandinda, have appealed to Parliament to push for quick justice for the jailed MP and a colleague.
Ssegirinya alongside Hon Allan Ssewanyana, the Makindye Division West MP, have been on remand since September 2021 over charges of murder and terrorism.
On Tuesday, 22 February 2022, Nakajumba and Akandinda were granted access to Parliament, where they met with the Director of Communication and Public Affairs, Chris Obore pleading for their son to be released.
“They should release him; they should give him bail. I am asking you to help me and advocate for his release. I am unwell and there is no one to look after me. I ask the President and the Deputy Speaker who are both parents to listen to my plea,” Nakajumba cried out.
Obore said that the best Parliament can do is to ask the court to fast-track the process and ensure justice prevails.
“I have received guidance that the Speaker has nothing much to do except to demand that let there be a speedy trial. Parliament and the Judiciary work together, but each of them has got boundaries, so this matter is purely for the Judiciary.
As the Speaker asks for a speedy trial, let some people support you to access a speedy trial,” Obore said.
He added that unfortunately, some people are giving Ssegirinya’s relatives wrong information that Parliament is the place to go to and complain.
Parliament, Obore said, sympathises with Ssegirinya’s mother and wife, adding that the institution would stay in close contact with the family to follow up on their concerns.
Obore added that both Nakajumba and Akandinda, like every citizen, are at liberty to approach Parliament on matters that affect them.
The MP’s wife, pleaded with the Judiciary to release Ssegirinya and Ssewanyana, saying they have been held for too long.
“It is good we have been informed that this is not the best place to go. But we request the Judiciary to consider the cases of the MPs as first as possible, because they both have health problems and are not doing the work they were elected for,” she said.
The Democratic Party President, Norbert Mao, who was at the precincts of Parliament at the time of the happening said that they sympathise with the mother and wife to Ssegirinya, but the best they can also do, as a party, is call for a speedy trial.