A Uganda Court on Tuesday morning acquitted two Daily Monitor editors accused of forging President Museveni’s letter on Bunyoro/Bafuuruki land question, two years after they were charged by the same court.
Mr Daniel Kalinaki, the managing editor, and Mr Henry Ochieng, the political editor, were acquitted by Chief Magistrate Joyce Kavuma, citing failure by prosecution to prove the vital ingredients of forgery that would necessitate them to defend themselves against the allegations.
“I find that there has been no evidence to prove the fundamental ingredients of forgery. I uphold the submissions of ‘no case to answer’ and I dismiss the charge of forgery against the accused under section 127 of the Magistrates Court Act,” held Ms Kavuma while acquitting the editors.
Responding to the acquittal, Mr Ochieng said, "Today, the indisputable gold standards of good governance and the inherent human right to freedom of expression were reaffirmed."
Mr Kalinaki however expressed worry that the government would continue to create cases against critical and investigative journalists.
“I am worried that since they have lost this battle, they will soon institute others charges to perpetually keep some of us in court.” He said after his acquittal.
The editors’ lawyer James Nangwala scoffed at the office of Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for having gone ahead to sanction forgery charges against his clients just to serve political interests.
"Once again, the decision of the court has put the independence of the DPP to test, clearly from the word go, no person worthy of holding the office of the DPP would ever have sanctioned a charge of forgery under those circumstances," Mr Nangwala said.
The private secretary to the President in charge of legal affairs, Ms Joyce Kabatsi was also present at court to hear the ruling. Ms Kabatsi was one of the five state witnesses who testified against the editors.
Prosecution had alleged that the editors between July 31, 2009, and August 2, 2009, at the Monitor Publications Ltd offices in Kampala, despite publishing the correct content of the letter on the newspaper’s website on July 31, subsequently forged the same letter by way of introducing alterations in the Sunday Monitor of August 2, 2009 titled: ‘Museveni’s letter on Bunyoro land question’.
In the then controversial letter, President Museveni was, among others, proposing the ring-fencing of elective political positions in Bunyoro for natives who are outnumbered by immigrants.
The Coordinator of Human Rights Network for Journalists, Mr Geoffrey Wokulira Ssebagala welcomed the verdict saying, "this case was indicative of the state’s interest to frustrate the critical media by dragging them to court in such unsustainable cases. The state should realize the need for a free media in a democratic society and desist from criminalizing the work of journalists in Uganda.”
In her ruling, the magistrate asked the state to appeal if they felt dissatisfied and also ordered that the State refund the editors bail money.
