The Chief Magistrates Court in Kabale was on Monday thrown into laughter and shock when the Kabale State Attorney presented the Kabale District FDC secretary general as one of the witnesses in the case that Col Dr Kizza Besigye and 5 other opposition leaders are accused of inciting violence in Kabale 2012.
Dr Besigye is accused together with Imam Makumbi, Ingrid Turinawe Kamateneti, Mubarak Munyagwa, Roland Kaginda Mugume and Elias Lukwago of inciting violence that led o the injuring of 3 police officers and destroying four police vehicles.
Gloria Inzikuru, the Kabale senor state attorney when asked by the trial magistrate Moses Samuel Ntende Kagoda, to give out the names of the three witnesses that she intends to present, she named Florence Boonabana and Badru Semwanga, both workers of the state owned Uganda Broadcasting Corporation, and Sentaro Byamugisha the Kabale Municipality Mayor and FDC Secretary General.
The court burst into laughter after the name of Byamugisha was read out by the prosecutor. Dr Besigye and his co-accused were also seen smiling confusedly in the dock.
MP Mubarak Munyagwa immediately stepped forward and informed court that Byamugisha happened to be a surety and on the side of the accused persons.
The state attorney then apologized saying there was a mistake, but could not reveal who the third witness would be.
She then asked court for an adjournment on grounds that she was unable to summon the witnesses as some of them stayed in Kampala, and also that one of the accused persons Erias Lukwago was not in court.
Lukwago’s lawyer Julius Galisonga responded that the Lord Mayor was on a trip in Israel but that court was free to carry on with the case.
Nonetheless, the magistrate decided to allow the prosecution chance to sort out their mistakes, and adjourned the matter to 12th January 2017.