At least 93 women arrested during a Kampala city operation on Thursday escaped prosecution after they were allegedly released from the City Hall Court holding area before appearing before a magistrate.
The suspects had been rounded up earlier in the day during a joint enforcement operation by the Uganda Police Force and the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA), targeting people accused of committing various offences across the city.
According to a letter dated 25 June, Senior Principal Magistrate and Officer-in-Charge of City Hall Court, Nicholas Aisu, informed the Chief Registrar of the Judiciary, Agnes Alum, that the court was overwhelmed by the unusually high number of suspects brought in for processing.
He explained that because the court’s holding cells were already full, the 93 female suspects were temporarily kept in a KCCA meeting room with the approval of the authority’s management, while male suspects were processed first.
However, when court officials later prepared to call the women into court to take plea, they reportedly found that all 93 had already been released before their files could be handled.
In his complaint, Aisu accused Kampala Deputy Lord Mayor Faridah Nakabugo of interfering with court proceedings by preventing the suspects from appearing before the magistrate. He further alleged that she worked with a group of people he described as “hooligans” to secure the women’s release.
“We were stunned when Hon. Nakabugo Faridah, Deputy Lord Mayor, obstructed their appearance before court and, working with some hooligans she had mobilised, forcefully freed all the female suspects who were set to appear before court this afternoon,” Aisu wrote.
The magistrate said the incident prevented the court from taking pleas in cases involving more than 50 of the suspects, disrupting the day’s proceedings and leaving judicial officers at the City Hall Court shocked.
Aisu has since asked the Chief Registrar to provide guidance on the matter and called for measures to ensure similar incidents do not happen again.
Court records show that most of the women were facing charges related to disturbing public peace.
