11/2026
In two unprecedented rulings, High Court judge Paul Gadenya Wolimbwa has said that courts have no option but to grant mandatory bail to accused persons after spending 180 days on remand before being committed to the High court.
In two separate rulings in which he allowed bail for one person accused of murder and aggravated robbery and the other accused of aggravated robbery and attempted murder, Justice Gadenya said the applicants for bail also need not to show exceptional circumstances for them to be released on bail.
Article 23(6)(c) provides that a person arrested for an offence triable only by the High Court, who has been remanded in custody for one hundred and eighty days before the case is committed for trial, is entitled to apply for release on bail, and that the court shall release that person on such conditions as the court considers reasonable,” Judge Gadenya said in his rulings. “The sub-article speaks in two registers at once: an entitlement to apply, which is unremarkable, and a duty upon the court to release, which is not.
The permissive and the mandatory sit side by side, and it would be a mistake to let the former override the latter. Once an accused person has spent more than 180 days on remand without committal, the court has no choice but to release the person on reasonable conditions.”
The application was filed by a one Marijani Swaibu, who was arrested on November 3, 2024, on allegations of aggravated robbery and murder, and was thereafter detained at Kabalagala Police Station. He was first arraigned before the Chief Magistrate’s Court of Makindye on December 11 2024. Since Since his araignment, Swaibu had remained on remand at Luzira Upper Prison.
His case has come up before the Chief Magistrate’s Court for mentions as investigations remain incomplete.
Another case where Justice Gadenya also ruled in the same way involves a one Abdul Nsereko who was arrested from Bwaise and charged at the Nabweru magistrate court on charges of aggravated robbery and attempted murder on July 3, 2024. Since then, his case had not also been referred to the High Court for trial. The DPP opposed granting bail to Swaibu arguing that he was charged with a serious offence that carry the maximum penalty of death, and that the temptation to flee is correspondingly high.
The DPP also argued that both Nsereko and Swaibu did not demonstrate exceptional circumstances warranting bail, nor had they established a fixed place of abode within the jurisdiction whether by title deeds or utility bills.
The DPP submitted that investigations remain ongoing and that there is a real possibility of interference by the applicants with witnesses. But in his ruling in the Swaibu case, Justice Gadenya said that once the constitutional preconditions for bail are satisfied, the court’s discretion is confined to fixing appropriate condition of granting bail alone.
