Mobile Court Trial undermining fair hearing: ULS warns of “Judicial Lynching Rally” in the Ggaba Day Care Center case.

KAMPALA: The Uganda Law Society (ULS) has issued a scathing rebuke of the Judiciary’s plan to hold the country’s first “Mobile High Court Session” at Ggaba Community Church grounds on Monday, 13 April, for the trial of Christopher Okello Onyum, the suspect in the 2 April killings of four toddlers at a Ggaba day-care centre.  

In a Statement of Position released on 12th April 2026, from ULS House in Kololo, the Society described the planned trial not as “speedy justice” but as “a judicial lynching rally, stage-managed at the scene of the crime, with the direct command responsibility of the Executive and the active complicity of the Judiciary.”

Executive interference disguised as access to justice:

The ULS argues that the mobile court, convened under the Constitution (Operation of Mobile Courts) (Practice) Directions, 2026, violates the accused’s constitutional right to a fair hearing. The Society cited public remarks by senior officials as evidence of prejudgment.

“The evidence of interference is overwhelming and brazen,” the statement reads. “On 7 April 2026, Principal Judge Jane Frances Abodo publicly declared that ‘the President says this case must be handled’ and directed the Judiciary to ‘test the mobile court directive’ by taking the court to Ggaba ‘and handle the case there, and handle it fast.’”

The Society also pointed to comments by Minister of State for Youth and Children Affairs, Hon. Balaam Barugahara. Addressing the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation on 4 April, the Minister “dismissed human rights and all plausible defences of ‘the terrorist…[who should be charged with] premeditated murder’ and declared that ‘such suspects deserve death by shooting at a firing squad in full view of the public at City Square.’”

At a memorial service on 6 April at Ggaba Community Ministry Church, Barugahara, representing President Museveni, “pronounced the suspect a ‘criminal’ even before his first appearance at Makindye Chief Magistrate’s Court on 8 April 2026.”

Trial modalities announced before judicial confirmation:

According to the ULS, the Minister detailed trial logistics on X on 10 April — a day after Onyum was committed to the High Court — announcing “daily sessions from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. starting on Monday, 13 April 2026, limited seating of 1,000, giant screens and speakers for public viewing, live broadcasts on television, and the entire spectacle at the ‘scene of the crime.’”

The Judiciary confirmed a day later that proceedings would be streamed live “to enable a wider audience to follow,” while access would be restricted through a “categorisation system” prioritising “religious leaders, affected families, local leaders, and media.”

“This is not public participation; it is the weaponisation of public grief to pre-determine guilt,” the ULS stated. “The presumption of innocence—guaranteed by Article 28(3)(a) of the Constitution, Article 7(1)(b) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights… and Article 14(2) of the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)—has been publicly executed before any evidence is tested.”

Institutional mob justice,’ says ULS president:

At a press conference held via Zoom today, ULS president Isaac Ssemakadde said the trial amounts to “institutional mob justice by the police, Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) and the judiciary.”

Ssemakadde claimed Onyum “was never subjected to expert psychiatric examination as required to ascertain his mental capacity to stand trial.” He added that holding proceedings at the crime scene is unfair “where there is still fresh open wounds of parents and the Gaba community members since some of the victims have just been buried.”

Eddie Nanguru, the ULS Council representative for the Eastern region, echoed the concern: “The man who killed children in GABA kindergarten should not be tried at the scene of crime though the law allows it… Minister Balamu Barugahare said this suspect should be shot dead but as the radical new bar and the rule of law doesn't allow such. Tomorrow, Monday we are going to witness institutional mob justice.”

ULS cites 2002 precedent, international law:

The Society drew parallels with Constitutional Petition No. 2 of 2002 (Uganda Law Society & Jackson Karugaba v Attorney General), where the Constitutional Court held that Field Court Martial proceedings “violated the right to a fair hearing under Article 28 when they denied the accused adequate time and facilities to prepare a defence, an independent and impartial tribunal, and the right to appeal.”

“A mobile court summoned to the crime scene at presidential command, surrounded by mourners, pastors, and live cameras, cannot possibly be independent or impartial,” the ULS argued. “It is structurally incapable of delivering justice.”

Quoting the UN Human Rights Committee’s General Comment No. 32, the statement noted that the right to a fair trial “demands an independent and impartial tribunal, equality of arms, adequate time and facilities for the preparation of a defence, and protection of the presumption of innocence from ‘prejudicial pre-trial publicity’ or ‘public opinion.’”

Call for withdrawal of directive:

The ULS rejected the venue and process, stating: “We do not support it. We reject it.” It called on the Chief Justice “to immediately withdraw the mobile court directive in this case, to conduct the trial in the ordinary High Court premises in accordance with established rules of procedure, and to reaffirm that the Judiciary serves the Constitution—not presidential instructions or public sentiment.”

“When the Executive chooses the dock and the Judiciary builds it, the defendant is already in chains,” the Society warned. “Article 28(1) dies not in the judgment, but in the venue notice.”

The statement concluded: “The victims’ families deserve justice. The rule of law demands it be delivered fairly, impartially, and without theatrical flourish. Anything less is not justice; it is vengeance dressed in judicial robes.”

The Judiciary’s Mobile High Court session is scheduled to begin at 9:00 a.m. on Monday, 13 April, at Ggaba Community Church grounds. Onyum faces four counts of murder.