The Uganda Law Society (ULS) has urged the Supreme Court to urgently deliver a long-awaited judgment in a five-year-old constitutional appeal involving the Attorney General and jailed former Principal Accountant in the Office of the Prime Minister, Geoffrey Kazinda.
In a letter dated December 17, 2025, addressed to the Administrator of the Supreme Court, Justice Lillian Tibatemwa-Ekirikubinza, the Law Society expressed concern that the prolonged delay has resulted in Kazinda’s continued detention at Luzira Upper Prison, where he has been held since October 2012.
The letter, signed by ULS Vice President Anthony Asiimwe, comes after repeated appeals by Kazinda, his lawyers, and family members, who have decried the slow pace of justice in his case.
Both the Law Society and Kazinda’s family have also raised alarm over the imminent retirement of Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo, who led a six-Justice panel that heard the petition. The Chief Justice is expected to retire in about one month upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70. ULS warns that his departure could further delay the ruling if a new panel has to be constituted.
Kazinda’s legal saga began in June 2013 when he was convicted by the High Court on charges of embezzlement and forgery and sentenced to eight years in prison. These convictions were later overturned by the Court of Appeal in separate criminal appeals decided in his favor.
In August 2020, the Constitutional Court ruled that Kazinda had been subjected to continuous and unlawful prosecutions arising from the same allegations. The court ordered his immediate discharge in all pending cases and barred the State from prosecuting him on the same matters.
Dissatisfied with the Constitutional Court ruling, the Attorney General applied for a stay of execution pending an appeal to the Supreme Court. The appeal was initially heard in November 2021 and re-heard in July 2024 after a panel reshuffle caused by the retirement and death of some Justices.
More than a year later, the Supreme Court has yet to deliver its judgment. The Uganda Law Society says Kazinda remains in custody solely because the apex court has not ruled on the appeal, despite his acquittals by previous courts.
ULS is now pressing the Supreme Court to issue a decision urgently, warning that further delays undermine constitutional guarantees of liberty and the right to a fair hearing.
