President Yoweri Museveni has stuck to his guns and reiterated his intentions to revive the death penalty for those convicted of serious crimes like murder.
Days ago, while presiding over the passing out of Ugandan prisons warders, wardresses and non-commissioned officers at Luzira Prisons, the President stated that although he has not signed death penalties for 3 decades because of his Christian faith, the rising trend in crime might force him revise his position on death penalty saying that his leniency was not helping in solving crime.
“I believe that this leniency is becoming a problem. I am going to revise this and hang a few. We must hang some of these people because if you see how they kill people, they deserve to be killed,” Museveni said last Thursday.
His comment has since attracted dissenting views from the civil society and rights activists who say the decision would be retrogressive to strides made by Uganda over the years. But yesterday, Museveni reaffirmed his position on the matter saying that removing the death sentence is a recipe for chaos.
“In our society, we believe in the Law of Moses; eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. If you interfere with that, you are going to see chaos,” the President said while officially opening the Annual Judges’ Conference at Speke Resort Munyonyo.
“I have been making the mistake of not sanctioning these death sentences, I am repenting,” he added.
He advised the Judiciary to reduce on the backlog of serious offences like murder, rape, homicides and commercial cases, saying that some crimes deserve stringent penalties given the impact they are likely to have on the victims.
“If there is to be case backlog, let it be for minor cases. What destablishes society is loss of life. When life is lost and there is no answer, people become afraid,” Museveni said.
He also cited the recent reports on the use of dangerous chemicals on meat sold in butcheries, advocating for tougher sentences for the perpetrators.
“There are these people who used formalin, a preservative for corpses on meat. And your Magistrate gave them a punishment of just 8 months. Had it been me, I would have sentenced them to at least 20 years in jail”.
Regarding the long standing issue of inadequate funding to the judicial sector, the President said that government still lacks resources partly due to the still recovering economy, corruption and under collection of revenue which are being addressed.
The conference was attended by the Chief Justice, Bart Katureebe, Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Kahinda Otafiire, Justices of the High Court, Supreme Court and Court of Appeal as well as other officials within the judicial system.