Shocking!! Makerere Lecturer Dr Atim tells-off M7-warn your Son to respect rule of Law

[00:00:00]freedoms has enshrined in chapter 4 of our constitution and article 21 of the constitution.

[00:00:07]And article 20 that enjoins the state to which you belong to uphold the inherent rights and freedoms of all Ugandans.

[00:00:17]And for some of us who do not have the military might and the power and the resources, article 17 of the constitution calls upon us as citizens to defend the human rights and freedoms enshrined in the constitution for all Ugandans, for the most vulnerable Ugandans, etc. And for the radical new bar, our strength is only as good as the strength of every vulnerable advocate out there.

[00:00:46]If we are all scared of from representing our clients because the next thing you know, you're going to be accused of being privy to the crime that the client has actually committed.

[00:00:58]Then who is going to represent the nation? The aspirations of the president to uphold access to justice in this Kisanja no more sleep. How are we going to realize it?

[00:01:08]How are we going to realize the national development plan for etc. If all lawyers dive under the carpets?

[00:01:17]So, at least we are citizens. If you don't want to recognize us as lawyers, at least recognize us as citizens and read article 17 of the constitution and article 3 of the constitution that was enacted in 1995 at the time when President Museveni was already president and he acceded to these documents because he believed in the aspirations and the spirit of these documents.

[00:01:43]>> [music] >> So, this formal matter has been turned into a criminal matter.

[00:01:53]I'm regretting why I fought for women to be set free.

[00:01:59]For more time >> [music] >> I know what the piece of it.

[00:02:21]>> [laughter] [music] >> Please send people who have competence.

[00:02:30]You can experiment on other things.

[00:02:33]They're just choreographing something that has is a rabble-rouser.

[00:02:41]>> [music] >> Listening to that poem, you realize it's a voice of a young Ugandan.

[00:02:53]Not a mature one like me.

[00:03:00]And for those of us who are mothers and raising children in Uganda, such voices crying out for a better Uganda, it hurts us in our hearts and our bone marrow.

[00:03:17]We have backed these children.

[00:03:19]We are doing our best to raise them.

[00:03:23]And in what world will we present them? Or shall we leave them tomorrow?

[00:03:31]Ladies and gentlemen, I stand here today with a heavy heart.

[00:03:40]I stand in my stilettos as we have been called upon by the president of the Law Society, President Simon Peter, that the women lawyers must show up in their capacities and make meaning of it.

[00:03:58]Because our nation is bleeding.

[00:04:02]I take this opportunity to greet the president of this country President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and the other team name that because of my actually tongue I cannot pronounce very well.

[00:04:18]I greet him and recognize him in that capacity.

[00:04:23]I greet our president, President Simon Peter and the council and recognize you in that capacity.

[00:04:32]Since you took over office, it has been controversy after controversy.

[00:04:38]But for me, the controversies are all about a better Uganda. How do we leave this Uganda in compliance with the laws of this country.

[00:04:55]The national laws, the international laws, the regional laws, the sub-regional laws that we have spent a lot of taxpayers' money flying members of parliament, people from Ministry of Foreign Affairs, etc. to go be part of the discussions around these laws, adopt these laws in our parliament, ratify them at the the international regional level, and commit commit to adhere to them.

[00:05:29]Taxpayers' money has gone down the drain if we do not wake up.

[00:05:37]Section 3 of the Uganda Law Society Act that has been my push factor in everything I have done in the classroom show that for UNS activities, it has been section three. Calls on us as members of the Uganda Law Society to lead this country and give a sense of direction where the rule of law is being watered down.

[00:06:07]So, I recognize that the president of the radical new bar and his counsel for relentlessly screaming screaming over his head or their heads together with the BC in every platform, every podium, every Twitter, every social media message and in our school of law platform my year 29 to 1999 they send a love letter every so-called love letter but screaming for democracy, the rule of law and justice in this country.

[00:06:43]Fellow citizens I recognize you, too.

[00:06:48]And I also recognize that you face today Mrs. Lukwago Salongo.

[00:06:58]I had never sat anywhere close to Mr. Lukwago except watching him on TV as a mayor, as a lawyer, and doing what he does best.

[00:07:07]This is the first time in my life I am sitting even close to his wife. I've never known her.

[00:07:14]When I was asked to come and speak today and represent the women and be in solidarity with her of course you fear.

[00:07:23]You wonder about the children you're leaving behind and so on.

[00:07:27]But I must show up.

[00:07:30]I must show up because we have women who have showed up before us and spoken loud and clear who I also recognize today. So many of them. I must lead by honorable Matembe.

[00:07:44]So many. All of them women in the women's movement, honorable Betty Amongi, Dr. Stella Nyanzi, Zahara Nampewo.

[00:07:51]Prima Kwagala, FIDA, the FIDA leadership, you name it. So many.

[00:07:56]I must show up and represent the women's movement. And we stand up with our sister.

[00:08:02]And you know I laughed.

[00:08:03]I laughed and said, "Now I'm even an analog."

[00:08:06]Maybe that's the reason God made me also an analog.

[00:08:09]So that I can come and stand by my sister Nalongo Zaake Zaake in this very difficult time.

[00:08:17]We know our sisters, my colleague Zahara Dr. Zahara Nampewo at the School of Law has suffered the same ordeal.

[00:08:25]Bobi Wine's wife has suffered the same ordeal and they're still suffering. But we want to raise our voices to the nation, to the president. And for me today, I chose to come and speak to the president, to use this platform to speak to the president.

[00:08:38]And say, "President Please talk to us as a nation.

[00:08:44]Speak to us. We need to know where we are heading in this Kisanja No Sleep.

[00:08:51]Recently you gave us your What is it called? The state of the nation address.

[00:08:56]My plea to you is that you give us a part two of the state of the nation address very very soon, maybe by the end of business today.

[00:09:05]To tell us about the state of constitutionalism, rule of law, and governance in this country. Your previous state of the nation address spoke about FDM, about the cattle corridor in the 1950s, I don't know what, about imperialism, uh correcting us that it's not Kisanja No Sleep but Kisanja No More Sleep.

[00:09:25]To fight poor governance, corruption in this country.

[00:09:29]And here we are.

[00:09:31]Here we are watching the pearl of Africa deteriorating with one attack after another, that we are finding it even hard to sleep in our homes, in our beds. We don't know who is next.

[00:09:49]So, as our father, President Yoweri Museveni, and Mama Janet, just a few months ago, I think you delivered some kind of national apology.

[00:09:59]There was a national apology to the nation for the mistakes that have been made since 1986, when you came into power and then to date.

[00:10:08]And yeah, you left us with hope that by the time our parent or two parents actually make a national apology, then we are going to see fundamental change.

[00:10:22]But, where we are today, it's doubtful. We are not It's We are not yet seeing that fundamental change in reality to make us understand that the aspirations of the Constitution embedded there, just in the preamble. If nobody wants to read the entire Constitution because they say Ugandans I don't know Africans don't want to read high information in the book, at least read the preamble alone.

[00:10:51]To tell you the aspirations of this Constitution, where our fore parents who fought the wars that you fought when you came into power was 1986. I was only in P7. I wrote a few one. All I remember is my teacher telling me, "Duck down under the desks." I was in Shimoni Shimoni Primary School. And I think you were taking over Radio Uganda.

[00:11:14]And bullets were raining all over the place. And the the teacher told us, "Duck down under the tables under the tables." And I I recall my auntie came for me. I think she was living maybe closest to walking closest to Radio Uganda. Picks me up and took me to her home. I spent that whole time in Bugolobi where my aunt is staying. And then a few months, I don't even know how much time the war took, but I know thereafter my auntie took me back to our home, which was in Kabalagala, just above Kabalagala police station there.

[00:11:43]But on our way, around Zambia police barracks and so on there, I could see men, women with bandage all over their heads and arms and so on. And that is really my memory of the early 1986 liberation struggle. And I just It was so terrifying. And I'm hoping that our children and Uganda will not regress to that state of lawlessness again.

[00:12:09]I'm hoping that this Kisanja no more sleep and the so-called protecting the gains will actually be protecting the constitution, the laws that we have, all the programs we put in place to really uphold this nation and make meaning to the people of Uganda.

[00:12:30]Whether any of those laws matter.

[00:12:32]Whether this Kisanja protecting the gains really matter for all of us or for a selected few.

[00:12:39]I think for me, the ball is now in your court, our president, to come and explain to us what your son, General Muhoozi, is actually up to.

[00:12:51]Honorable What's his name? Byarugaba Chris Chris Chris who?

[00:12:57]Byarugaba.

[00:12:58]Told us he acts the way he acts because he has Peter Peter what? Peter Pan syndrome.

[00:13:05]I don't know. We don't know, but Honorable Byarugaba Byarugaba.

[00:13:11]Yeah, he's very close to to the family, I suppose.

[00:13:15]So, probably they know better.

[00:13:18]But we are just seeking answers to all these questions that we ponder. And I And the answers lie nowhere else but with you, our president, to explain what is happening to this nation. In your elections acceptance speech in January, I listened carefully.

[00:13:37]And one of the many things you set out to do, I think they were about seven points, and among which I remember two very keenly was enhancing access to justice and protecting the rights of all persons to access to justice in Uganda and fighting corruption.

[00:13:56]So, what does that access to justice really mean? Is it going to be simply increasing money for the judiciary to recruit more judicial officers, maybe build more court houses, but violate the rights of the legal representatives who must go in there and represent their clients and make the right to access to justice really have fundamental meaning to all Ugandans?

[00:14:24]I hope that in the next state of the nation address that I'm expecting from you on the state of constitutionalism, rule of law, and democracy in this country, you, Mr. President, you will elucidate more on what you actually mean about that.

[00:14:41]Whether some of us belong to that right to enjoy that fundamental right or not, depending on where they are coming from, maybe, or which social class they belong to, or whether they are planned kids or not planned kids, because that is for us the Gen Z language.

[00:14:58]Those of us who teach at the university we tend to adopt the Gen Z language.

[00:15:02]So, Mr. President, I implore you to speak to us as a nation and explain to us what your position really is on this matter, so we can have guided response to all that is happening.

[00:15:22]I want to also let members know I stand here also on the platform of the academia.

[00:15:33]For those of you who have seen our law students from the Makerere Law Society release their statement and I'm grateful for those to those to the students from Makerere University School of Law for the statements that they have released in light of this matter. I'm also grateful for the Uganda Law Society they shot right to the past bullet to respond to this as they should correctly do.

[00:15:55]Also, honorable Asuman Kiyingi, honorable Betty Nambooze, they told me that in fact I said to myself I will not talk law today. I will not cite those provisions because those provisions have been cited reiterated in all these statements.

[00:16:13]And even when you look at [laughter] the composition of I don't know the council members or governing members of the PLU Yeah, made up of so many lawyers.

[00:16:23]The one that I know best who was in law school closer to me and I could say is an acquaintance is Mr. Kasirye Ggwanga.

[00:16:31]So, I know Kasirye Ggwanga. I know that they know the law, they know the provisions, but either they are choosing and they are people who who are intellectually gifted really from what I know, what I've seen, some of those are they are intellectually gifted.

[00:16:47]So, I'm I'm hoping that they will guide their leadership on what should the right way to go in order to comply with Uganda's legal undertakings in its national documents and others.

[00:17:04]And I want them to know all the duty bearers here that I on for us who are in the academia, we no longer know what to teach.

[00:17:14]You're teaching constitutional law, you're teaching administrative law, you're teaching human rights law.

[00:17:19]And what is in the books is very different from what is on the ground.

[00:17:23]Actually, our agency is there on the ivory tower and now we say everything what? Alicia.

[00:17:29]Everything ground below you.

[00:17:32]That is not what they are talking.

[00:17:35]Okay?

[00:17:36]Because what we have in our law text is not what is actually happening in our country.

[00:17:46]And to recognize their efforts, I want to take this opportunity to also reiterate their prayers.

[00:17:55]As they stated it in their uh in their message to the nation.

[00:18:02]Alicia, I hope you can find it for me quickly.

[00:18:05]The prayers of the students from Makerere Law Society.

[00:18:11]I hope that the state of constitutionalism will change, human rights will change for a better Uganda.

[00:18:20]So that even as we teach our learners, they can resonate. What is on ground can resonate with what is in the books, in the constitution, in the law books.

[00:18:33]As I was coming here, I was listening to the presentation from the leader of opposition, uh Honorable Joel Ssenyonyi.

[00:18:42]I implore all Ugandans to listen to listen again.

[00:18:46]And very keenly.

[00:18:47]Honorable Ssenyonyi, I want to applaud you.

[00:18:50]You are a graduate of the School of Law, Makerere University.

[00:18:55]I want you to know that we are expecting a lot from you as the leader of opposition to steer this country in the right direction, the way we taught you, so that you do not embarrass us that the marks we gave you were just empty marks.

[00:19:12]You must defend the country and we are happy that you are there and you are speaking for us and speaking and defending the law degree that you got from Makerere University.

[00:19:28]To the judiciary, a lot has been said that you must tighten your belts and up up your game.

[00:19:35]And we should really see that what you state in the strategic plan 2025-2026 and all the judicial documents, judicial annual reports, judicial theme of the year a people-centered judiciary for social-economic transformative development of Uganda.

[00:19:57]We must breathe life into those aspirations that you have in the strategic plan, in your goals, your mandates under Article 126 to 129. Let us believe, let us know that the judiciary is actually independent and it's going to do its work with a people-centered approach, with a human-rights-based approach. Yesterday on Twitter, our president, Semakadde, was screaming his head out and saying, "We must administer criminal procedure with a human-rights approach."

[00:20:33]Not pocketing yourself in some little bubble and just applying the law, you know, as black and white without thinking, "What are the human rights standards here?

[00:20:47]As a judicial officer, how should I uphold them?" Just last week, I was in a judicial training, a training with judicial officers. And in that training, the current CJ, Dr. Chief Justice Zeija, he called on judicial officers to uphold human rights in the administration of justice and adjudicating their their their their cases and in undertaking their work.

[00:21:11]And such a time has come when Ugandans must really feel the the the weight of the judiciary in upholding human rights with a human rights approach and a people-centered justice system.

[00:21:28]It has When some of us who go into the communities and we try to reach out to people and tell them about the law from where people are aged etc. You hear people in the community all they say the law is for Baganda.

[00:21:41]Bavubu the law is not for us. Mateeka tetuyamba, court tetuyamba.

[00:21:46]We must change that perspective.

[00:21:50]When Justice Egonda-Ntende gave his farewell speech, I think many of you read Justice Egonda-Ntende's farewell speech on social media on social media.

[00:22:01]He called on judicial officers to be the one who is I remember that statement.

[00:22:06]Where are the one who is where are the what you know? He was calling on judicial officers to rise up and uphold justice like the previous judicial officers. You can go back and read his statement.

[00:22:17]And you see I shared that statement with a number of platforms and so on.

[00:22:22]And in one of the platforms the comments were that is for Ssemogerere. Remember he resonated the case of this NUP leader who is still in detention and could not even be granted bail to come and bury his wife who had died of cancer. It is and the children were there. He went back to that case. And he said how how how much could a judicial officer not employ a human rights-based approach to that moment and give a husband a father a time to be with his children at such a difficult time.

[00:23:00]But when we shared it around some voices were it's postmortem. He's making those statements when the events have already passed. They were all So, you should, you know, And we don't want those comments to come up. We don't want you judicial officers to make these good empowering speeches over the rest of the bench when you were saying farewell.

[00:23:20]When you were saying farewell to us as Ugandans or to the bench, we need you to say those speeches now when the constitution is really at a point of disarray.

[00:23:33]And to call on your colleagues to uphold their mandate.

[00:23:41]Ladies and gentlemen, I speak also remembering Article 17 of our constitution.

[00:23:50]You know, General Muhoozi has told us and what was his statement? I inviolate what?

[00:23:56]Lawyers.

[00:23:59]Well, if you don't want to see us as lawyers and the role we have to play in this country, then see us as citizens of Uganda who must enjoy the equal rights and freedoms as enshrined in Chapter 4 of our constitution and Article 21 of the constitution.

[00:24:18]And Article 20 that enjoins the state to which you belong to uphold the inherent rights and freedoms of all Ugandans.

[00:24:28]And for some of us who do not have the military might and the power and the resources, Article 17 of the constitution calls upon us as citizens to defend the human rights and freedoms enshrined in the constitution for all Ugandans, for the most vulnerable Ugandans, etc. And for the radical new bar, our strength is only as good as the strength of every vulnerable advocate out there.

[00:24:57]If we are all scared of from representing our clients because the next thing you know, you're going to be accused of being privy to the crime that the client has actually committed.

[00:25:08]Then who is going to represent the nation? The aspirations of the president to uphold access to justice in this Kisanja and almost sleep.

[00:25:17]How are we going to realize it?

[00:25:19]How are we going to realize the national development plan for ETC?

[00:25:23]If all lawyers died under the carpet.

[00:25:28]So, at least we are citizens. If you don't want to recognize us as lawyers, at least recognize us as citizens and read Article 17 of the Constitution and Article 3 of the Constitution that was enacted in 1995 at a time when President Museveni was already president and he acceded to these documents because he believed in the aspirations and the spirit of these documents.

[00:25:53]We have had honorable Maria Mutagamba and others, Chief Justice Emeritus Owiny-Dollo, talking of how they were part and parcel of the process of enacting the 1995 Constitution. Some of us are just receiving it as we grow.

[00:26:09]I don't think I think it actually hurts them when they see what is actually happening. Some of them may be placed in positions where they cannot speak.

[00:26:20]They cannot speak to the powers that be because of the positions that they hold.

[00:26:26]But their hearts must bleed or must be bleeding at what they now see happening.

[00:26:37]So, as I conclude Alicia, did you find this?

[00:26:43]As I conclude I hope we shall soon have national prayers for this nation, but meaningful ones, not the hypocritical ones.

[00:26:53]That are always hard wasting taxpayers money.

[00:26:56]And yet the same persons in the so-called national prayers are the ones actually perpetrating and violating the rights of the people of Uganda.

[00:27:10]Honorable both of us, then you speak of parliament.

[00:27:15]I told us in his acceptance speech how he's going to uphold constitutionalism and so on and so forth.

[00:27:22]I hope it was not a speech made in excitement as we were enjoying the fruits of the tree that now honorable Mao had shook. As you say you're enjoying the fruits of honorable Mao.

[00:27:36]But I really do hope you mean well for the country and I I saw you're one of the members of the PLU governing council.

[00:27:44]So I believe as speaker of parliament you will also take the mantle upon yourself to address all these uh regressive events that are occurring against the tenets of our constitution.

[00:27:59]And as I I leave this podium, allow me reiterate the prayers of our students from the law faculty as stated in their Makerere Law Society statement.

[00:28:11]After stating all the laws that are being violated with the events around um honorable Elias Lukwago or Mulot.

[00:28:20]They have prayed immediate number one, immediate and unconditional release of Elias Lukwago or produce him before the competent court of law without further delay in compliance with article 23 4 of the constitution.

[00:28:34]This clause, without equivocation, his current whereabouts and the state of health to his family and his legal counsel and the Uganda Law Society.

[00:28:44]We see what happened as of yesterday.

[00:28:47]Guarantee his unhindered access to legal representation and family visitation in accordance with the constitution and the Ugandan prison act.

[00:28:56]Institute an independent and transparent investigation into the conduct of officers involved in this operation with a view of accountability under both military and civil law.

[00:29:08]And then finally, take all necessary measures to guarantee that no advocate, judicial officer, or litigant shall be subjected to intimidation, abduction, or reprisal for the lawful exercise of their constitutional and professional duties.

[00:29:26]For God and my country. Thank you very much.

[00:29:31]>> I'm a member of the people's front for freedom and I head the legal desk at the secretariat.

[00:29:42]I've written down a few things, but I think I'll speak from the heart today.

[00:29:49]As he has said, I'm always with senior counsel Elias Lukwago.

[00:29:57]I've known him for a very long time, actually, from law school.

[00:30:01]When I was at law school and my colleague Patrick Wabwire was a second letter.

[00:30:07]So, from law school, I did my internship from his law firm.

[00:30:13]And uh he taught me a lot of things.

[00:30:18]Everything I know about the law is counsel Elias Lukwago.

[00:30:24]Everything.

[00:30:27]The strength, the drafting, the appearance in court, everything is under his mentorship.

[00:30:39]So, I've I've with him in all this and um most people call him my legal father.

[00:30:48]You know, everyone is calling me and asking me, "How is your dad?

[00:30:51]How is your father? How is your legal father?"

[00:30:55]And I'm like, uh he's fighting and he's strong.

[00:31:02]I've been with him in all these cases. I think most people have seen me with him.

[00:31:10]And it is so sad to see that he was kidnapped for representing his client Dr. Kizza Besigye and Hajjati Betty Nambooze.

[00:31:27]For a small thing.

[00:31:30]He wanted to serve the CDF with court process.

[00:31:38]You know, he he he didn't issue the summons.

[00:31:42]He didn't give the court directions.

[00:31:47]Everything was done by Justice Byabakama.

[00:31:51]His only crime is saying "We are going to serve the CDF."

[00:32:01]And as lawyers we've all gone through this.

[00:32:06]All of us here.

[00:32:09]The only issue here, the only difference is that this is the CDF and it's in the limelight.

[00:32:18]But we all know when when you go to serve court process as a lawyer, sometimes as my colleague here, Katushabe, has said sometimes you're abused.

[00:32:29]You go through all that.

[00:32:31]But because now it's the CDF it becomes a different story.

[00:32:40]They kidnap you, take you to the basement, brag about it online, because I think we've all been getting updates on X.

[00:32:54]All the times senior counsel has been in that illegal detention that is commonly known as the basement.

[00:33:03]We've been getting updates on X, and we've been seeing this as a tactic to threaten us as lawyers who are I think some of us who are on that legal team, the threats are directed to us.

[00:33:24]They want us maybe to step down or go in hiding or do what I don't know.

[00:33:32]But I want to urge my colleagues who are on the legal team to be strong.

[00:33:41]You know we fought for General Court Martial.

[00:33:45]The struggles we went through at the General Court Martial, I think everyone saw them.

[00:33:54]We fought so hard.

[00:33:59]Then we came to the normal courts and thought it would be different.

[00:34:05]But it's not.

[00:34:08]It is not.

[00:34:10]What has happened to senior counsel Erias Lukwago can happen to anyone, whether you're handling these kinds of cases or not.

[00:34:24]This is an attack an attack to the owner of the bar.

[00:34:28]It's an attack to everyone.

[00:34:32]Everyone, whether you're law in Karamoja or in Moroto or down south in Kabale, it's an attack to everyone.

[00:34:45]And I want to call upon lawyers wherever you are, stand with our colleague.

[00:34:55]Stand with him in whatever capacity.

[00:34:59]If you can strike, if you can demonstrate, do it.

[00:35:03]If you can speak, do it.

[00:35:08]If you can go to Machon Beth and visit him, please do.

[00:35:14]As lawyers, I want to see lawyers doing this, taking lead, because it's an attack on us.

[00:35:24]And the silent people, the judiciary, the Chief Justice, I don't know what's going on. They should come up and speak.

[00:35:37]Because it's not only on us, the lawyers, it's also the judiciary that is under attack.

[00:35:48]We've been threatened.

[00:35:50]I receive calls every day.

[00:35:52]Of Onyango Yusuf, eh? I receive those calls every day, even today.

[00:36:00]Are you okay?

[00:36:01]Are you safe?

[00:36:05]It's really sad.

[00:36:10]We don't want courts to be used as a tool of repression.

[00:36:18]Let's condemn that as lawyers.

[00:36:22]Because whatever happens to one lawyer, it happens to client's everywhere?

[00:36:28]Just because uh I'm representing a client and as it is it's a it's a treason case.

[00:36:42]So they expect me as a lawyer to come and disclose what my client has told me.

[00:36:50]What happened to my duty to that client?

[00:36:55]What happened to confidentiality?

[00:37:02]What happened to all these things?

[00:37:06]So because I had a conversation with my client and they told me certain things about an offense they are being charged with, I should come up and go and tell the state this has happened.

[00:37:24]This is what is happening.

[00:37:27]So what happens to my innocent client?

[00:37:33]So that my client is guilty even before going through court processes.

[00:37:40]That is how it looks like.

[00:37:47]We condemn the actions of the CDF.

[00:37:52]The threats that are being directed to us on X, they are directed to both lawyers and court.

[00:38:01]And we urge him to stop.

[00:38:06]The law is the law. We didn't make these laws.

[00:38:10]As lawyers we went to school, studied, and we are here to follow the law.

[00:38:19]We are not here to fight anyone.

[00:38:22]Whatever we do as lawyers is under the law.

[00:38:27]And we urge him to follow the law.

[00:38:30]If they are looking for him to serve him court process, that is what the court said.

[00:38:40]Court gave directions.

[00:38:43]Senior Counsel Elias Lukwago didn't do that.

[00:38:48]Any other lawyer would actually have to do that.

[00:38:52]We were just following what the court told us to do.

[00:38:59]And when Senior Counsel Lukwago was kidnapped and taken to the basement, I always told people the CDF has the wrong person in the basement.

[00:39:18]Because the person who summoned him was Justice Emmanuel Baguma, the judge of the High Court and the trial judge in the Kizito Besigye case.

[00:39:32]As simple as that.

[00:39:36]Since it's the day of women and we've been getting updates from X, maybe we should rightfully thank the wife, Charlotte, because we saw a tweet that said she's the one who convinced the CDF to release our colleague and Senior Counsel Elias Lukwago.

[00:40:11]So, as women, we recognize her and thank her for that.

[00:40:22]I think I've seen Parliament quiet. I don't know what the women are doing there.

[00:40:28]Mhm? The women the women members of Parliament.

[00:40:34]Because we all see what Counsel Achieng's going through as women.

[00:40:45]And uh I'll urge all women to stand up and stand with her.

[00:40:54]She's going through a rough time.

[00:40:57]We all know Senior Counsel Elias Lukwago's health is not good.

[00:41:04]She's been taking care of him.

[00:41:07]She knows what time he eats, what time to rest, what time to work.

[00:41:13]She knows everything.

[00:41:17]Now, he's in detention.

[00:41:21]She doesn't know what is going on.

[00:41:26]Let's stand with her.

[00:41:28]Let's comfort her.

[00:41:31]These are trying times.

[00:41:33]It can happen to any anyone.

[00:41:37]This thing can happen to anyone, whether you are known in the country or not.

[00:41:43]We've seen picked up people that are not known.

[00:41:47]People that have never stood up to speak.

[00:41:53]So, if it can happen to such a person and you have the voice to speak, you're silent.

[00:42:00]Who will speak for them?

[00:42:06]I want to thank the Uganda Law Society.

[00:42:11]Thank you so much for standing with senior counsel.

[00:42:15]We also have the East African Law Society that has stood with us.

[00:42:21]We also have colleagues from Kenya where our lead counsel, Martha Karua, comes from. They've also stood with us.

[00:42:30]Colleagues from Tanzania and all these other countries that are standing with us.

[00:42:37]But I urge Ugandans, the lawyers in Uganda, to take lead.

[00:42:45]Because the ones in Kenya where our senior counsel is, all they can do is support.

[00:42:53]They can only support us, but let's take lead and fight this impunity.

[00:43:01]Thank you so much.

[00:43:05]>> Political matter has been turned into a criminal matter.

[00:43:14]>> I'm regretting why I fought for women to be set free.

[00:43:23]>> [music] >> I know what the piece of it.

[00:43:45]>> [music] >> Please send people who have competence.

[00:43:51]You can experiment on other things.

[00:43:53]They're just choreographing something that has that a bastard who took all