By Andrew Irumba
City lawyer Male Mabirizi is set cough millions of shillings as legal costs for a case he had filed against Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF) officers, challenging their appointment into police ranks.
The High court in Kampala on Tuesday dismissed with costs a case in which a lawyer Mabirizi was challenging the legality of the appointment of four senior UPDF officers into police.
Mabirizi had sued the attorney General challenging the appointment of Brig. Sam Bakasumba, Brig. Godfrey Golooba, Col. Jessy kamunanwire and Col. Ddamulira by president Yoweri Museveni, but unfortunately lost it and now he is set to compensate the four UPDF officers for damages and legal costs.
The Inspector General of Police, Martin Okoth Ochola communicated the appointment of the military officers in his communication on July 2, 2019.
However, in a suit he filed against the Attorney General, Mabirizi wanted court to declare the appointment of the army officers into Uganda police force illegal and procedurally improper.
Mabirizi argued that the president of Uganda neither has powers to appoint army officers into Uganda Police Force nor assign them police ranks.
Section 9 of the Police Act, mandates the police authority to advise the president on the appointment of the Inspector General of Police, the Deputy Inspector General of Police and recommend to the president appointments and promotions of police officers above the rank of assistant superintendent of police.
In the same suit, Mabirizi also wanted court to declare that the recruitment, training, deployment and maintenance of the Local Defense Unit-LDU is illegal.
He said that LDU’s are not provided for anywhere in the constitution and should therefore be disbanded.
Mabirizi also challenged the appointment of Justice Simon Byabakama as Electoral Commission chairperson. Byabakama took over from Engineer, Badru Kigundu who was dropped in 2016.
According to Mabirizi, Byabakama shouldn’t have taken the office without relinquishing his position as Court of Appeal Judge.
