Judge Says Prison Never Certified Lukwago Needed Treatment Outside Luzira

What the report says

Nile Post reports that the High Court declined bail for Erias Lukwago after finding that Uganda Prisons authorities had not confirmed his condition required treatment outside custody. Justice David Matovu’s ruling, delivered on Thursday, July 30, said a specialist report from five Mulago National Referral Hospital consultants was not enough on its own to satisfy the legal test for bail on medical grounds.

According to the report, the medical team had advised that Lukwago undergo a specialized spinal review by his primary surgeons in India, while his lawyers argued that the care could not be adequately provided in Uganda. The court held, however, that precedent required certification from an official Uganda Prisons medical officer showing that the illness could not be managed in prison. In the judge’s view, that missing certification undermined the application.

Lukwago, a former Kampala Lord Mayor and leader of the People’s Front for Freedom, was represented by lawyers including Medard Lubega Sseggona and Samuel Muyizi Mulindwa. Nile Post says the judge accepted that he had met several ordinary bail requirements, including presenting substantial sureties and a fixed residence in Rubaga, and rejected prosecution claims that he might abscond or interfere with witnesses as insufficiently supported.

The case now moves toward trial after the Makindye Chief Magistrate’s Court committed Lukwago to the High Court on July 16. Matovu directed the Criminal Division’s Deputy Registrar to speed up assignment to a trial judge, who may handle any new bail request. Lukwago is on remand at Luzira Murchison Bay Prison on a charge of misprision of treason linked to an alleged failure to report a plot to overthrow the government between 2021 and November 2024.