By Mariam Nanyanzi
Opposition National Unity platform vice president in charge of Buganda Regin and former Butambala County MP, Muwanga Kivumbi has not been produced before the Court after Kitalya prison authorities failed to bring him.
Kivumbi ,55was expected to appear for his bail hearing, but his lawyer, Sam Muyizi, told journalists outside court that his client remains incarcerated at Kitalya and could therefore not honour one of the conditions attached to his bail bond.
“The International Crimes Division of the High Court directed Honorable Muwanga Kivumbi and other applicants to report to this court on the 10th of August as one of the conditions in the bail bond granted by this honorable court. But as of today, we know that the honorable Muwanga Kivumbi Bondi is in Kitalya prison; the reason why he is not making it today,” Muyizi said.
According to Muyizi, the defence team moved swiftly to address the anomaly, petitioning the court to either waive the reporting condition or formally acknowledge Kivumbi’s continued detention as sufficient cause for his non-appearance.
“We made an application for court to waive that condition or take judicial notice that he cannot appear today. Court has made that direction that as long as he is in prison, he will not have to satisfy that condition,” he said.
Court subsequently granted the application, effectively suspending the reporting requirement for as long as Kivumbi remains in custody at Kitalya.
The development comes as the defence continues to press for Kivumbi’s release on bail, with the matter now returning to court in quick succession. Muyizi said the legal team is due back in Butambala on Tuesday to await the state’s response to the bail application.
“Tomorrow we are returning to Butambala for a reply from the state on the application we made for Honorable Muwanga Kivumbi’s bail application. We hope for the best. After tomorrow, on the 20th of this month still, we shall be reporting again to Butambala on this file which is before the High Court,” he added.