The Constitutional Court has ordered that corruption charges against Geraldine Ssali Busuulwa, former Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, must proceed to full trial, dealing a significant blow to her legal strategy.
The ruling came after the court struck down sections of the Human Rights (Enforcement) Act that her lawyers had been preparing to rely on. Specifically, the court declared Section 11(2)(a), (b) and (c) of the Act unconstitutional, finding that those provisions improperly allowed courts to acquit accused persons — without hearing the evidence against them — simply because their rights were violated during investigation or prosecution.
The justices held that while violations of fundamental rights are serious and must be remedied, the appropriate response is not to hand an accused person an automatic acquittal before the charges have even been examined.
“The provision admits no judicial discretion and thereby supplants the constitutional requirement that acquittal follow a full adjudication of charges,” the court stated.
Ssali’s case had been among the high-profile prosecutions hanging in the balance while the constitutional question was being determined. With that legal escape route now closed, her trial must move forward on its merits.
The court also broadened the frame of the ruling beyond the accused, emphasising that the right to a fair hearing under Article 28(1) of the Constitution belongs not only to defendants but equally to victims of crime and to society. Terminating cases prematurely, the justices found, denies victims any opportunity to seek justice or compensation, in violation of Articles 20 and 44(c) of the Constitution.
Each party in the constitutional petition was ordered to bear its own costs.
The decision is expected to have wide implications for other pending criminal cases where defendants had mounted similar procedural challenges under the now-invalidated provisions.
