Kampala- Jailed former Principal Accountant in the Office of the Prime Minister, Geoffrey Kazinda, has accused the Attorney General’s office of fraudulently smuggling an appeal before the Supreme Court to block his release from prison.
Kazinda contends that the appeal challenging his release was filed outside the constitutionally stipulated 60-day timeframe and without an order from the Supreme Court to validate it or to enlarge the time within which it could be lodged. He argues that, in the absence of such an order, the appeal is incompetent and should be struck out.
According to Kazinda, the Attorney General’s actions have unlawfully kept him behind bars despite what he describes as clear court orders in his favour. “This appeal was filed out of time and without the authority of court. It is fraudulent and cannot stand,” Kazinda maintains.
Kazinda is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence for corruption-related offences. However, he insists that the sentence is illegal, arguing that it was imposed after the Constitutional Court had already issued an injunction against his continued prosecution. He says this injunction rendered any subsequent proceedings against him unlawful.
He further maintains that if it were not for the pending and, in his view, incompetent appeal by the Attorney General, he would already be a free man. Kazinda has therefore asked the Supreme Court justices to strike out the appeal and order his immediate release.
Kazinda has also taken issue with the Supreme Court for declining to first hear his application seeking to dismiss the appeal, instead prioritising an application by the Attorney General to validate it. He notes that even after hearing the Attorney General’s application, the court did not pronounce itself on whether the appeal was valid.
“Up to now, there is no decision validating that appeal, which means there is no competent appeal against me before the Supreme Court,” Kazinda argues.
Kazinda is expected to appear before the Supreme Court on February 12th, where the justices will determine whether the failure by now-retired Justice Ezekiel Muhanguzi to sign the Constitutional Court judgment had a fatal effect on the case.
