November 11, 2018
The High Court in Kampala has directed the government to pay a lawyer Shs300m plus costs of the suit after the court found that he was illegally detained beyond the mandatory 48 hours, among other things.
Judge Andrew Bashaija, the head of the High Court Civil Division, ruled on June 9 that the action of the police in that regard was not only illegal but unconstitutional.
Court also found that the bank account of Mr John Kaggwa in Diamond Trust Bank was wrongly blocked, which contravened his constitutional right to a fair hearing, privacy and to practice his profession. Mr Kaggwa runs Kaggwa & Kaggwa Advocates.
The judge ruled further, in favour of Mr Kaggwa, that an order to search his home and office without a court order contravened his right to privacy and fair hearing and also declared as illegal a decision by a police officer to decline to hand over Mr Kaggwa’s passport despite a court order.
In 2016, Mr Kaggwa jointly sued Mr William Wilber Kototyo, a police detective, officer and the Attorney General.
“The plaintiff [Kaggwa] herein is awarded general damages of Shs100,000,000 against the defendants [Attorney General and Kototyo] jointly and severally owing to the fact that the 1st defendant is a CID officer working under the Uganda Police Force and his actions bind the force,” Judge Bashaija ruled.
“The plaintiff is awarded aggravated damages of Shs200,000,000 owing to the highhandedness, arrogance, and contempt of court orders and impunity exhibited by the 1st defendant [Kotyotyo] while in course of his duties and an agent and servant of the 2nd defendant [govt/Attorney General] and the fact that the contempt continues to date,” he added.
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