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On Monday 17th November, the Makindye-based Standards & Utilities Court Chief Magistrate Gladys Kamasanyu delivered her long-awaited ruling on the bail application of detained journalist Dean Lubowa Saava, who has been languishing on remand in Luzira prison for the last two months.
As is commonly becoming the norm these days (courts not being generous when it comes to granting bail), Gladys Kamasanyu disallowed the TV10 Gano Mazima boss’s bail application. The two grounds for denial of bail, in agreement with objections that were eloquently raised by state prosecutors from UCC, related to the accused person’s failure to produce substantial sureties and his place of abode being uncertain.
In her ruling, the Magistrate explained that the sureties the accused person presented for his bail application weren’t prominent enough to compel him to attend Court for his ongoing criminal trial, in case he is released on bail. The Magistrate added that their (sureties’) relationship to the accused person was not demonstrated or showed to be strong enough so as to be able to compel and secure his physical attendance whenever he is required to be in Court.
On the issue of place of abode, the Magistrate stated that the Lungujja home which was disclosed in the bail application to be the accused person’s place of residence was not showed or demonstrated to be Dean Lubowa Saava’s permanent place of abode or residence which can be relied on to trace him in case such need arises.
So, having disallowed the bail application, the Magistrate remanded him back to Luzira up to 9th December when he will be back in Court for the state prosecutors to continue making their case by way of leading more witnesses.
The triumphant prosecution lawyers from UCC indicated to Court that they are determined to have a speedy trial so that the controversial journalist doesn’t have to be on remand (before getting convicted) for too long. They indicated to the Magistrate that they were ready to commence on the trial and they had their first witness in Court, ready to give evidence aimed at corroborating illegal broadcasting charges against Dean Lubowa Saava (trading as TV10 Gano Mazima).
In presence of the accused person’s defense lawyer Festus Kaganzi, the state prosecutors led their first witness (UCC Licensing Officer Joseph Matsiko) into giving evidence against the accused person.
Defense lawyer Kaganzi was able to cross-examine Matsiko at the end of the prosecution evidence, before the Magistrate pushed the case to 9th December when more prosecution witnesses will be coming to give their evidence.
The prosecution intends to produce as many witnesses as they can, in order to prove their case that the accused person installed broadcasting equipment and went ahead to carry out TV broadcasting without the UCC licensing, which the law makes mandatory.
He is also accused of disobeying lawful orders and continuing broadcasting even after the regulator had raised the red flag demanding that he ceases until proper licensing has been done. At the conclusion of the UCC case, the Magistrate will determine whether the accused person has a case to answer so that Dean Lubowa Saava can commence on his defense.
The offences the online journalist is charged with carry a maximum prison sentence of between 1 and 5 years, in case the Magistrate finds him guilty and he gets convicted.
Indeed, the TV10 case has opened the eyes of hundreds of young journalists who have been out there operating online TV broadcasting (on Tik Tok, YouTube & FaceBook) totally oblivious of the fact that the same requires prior licensing by UCC under the laws of Uganda.
As such, many of them have been flocking UCC offices in Kampala and in the regions upcountry to work towards formalising their businesses and operations in order to avoid the TV10-like predicament.
Being the regulator, UCC has continued to come under a lot of pressure to do something to tame growing tendencies of abusive and harmful conduct by such online media operators.
This explains why the Bugolobi-based regulatory Commission has lately been very uncompromising when it comes to cracking the whip on non-compliant online media operators and those operating unlicesed radio stations especially upcountry.
BEST WAY FORWARD:
In Dean Lubowa Saava’s case, it’s gratefully not too late. There are several options his legal team can consider and explore to make sure that their client walks to freedom-at least on bail.
The Monday 17th November dismissal of the bail application ought not to be the end of the road for him. The criminal law allows him the option of sitting with his lawyers and once again approach the same Magistrate’s Court-seeking bail afresh. This would require addressing and putting right the two anomalies the Magistrate highlighted as justification for bail denial.
He, for instance, can get new sureties who are more prominent and substantial than those he produced originally. That can be cured by parading better and more appropriate sureties because, gratefully, his is a bailable offence. On the issue of permanent place of abode, the accused person doesn’t have to buy land and build his own house at Lungujja or anywhere else, overnight.
He simply has to produce things like the tenancy agreement and also go ahead to convince his land lord to personally come to Court and demonstrate to the Magistrate that he has been his tenant for so many years, and a good one at that.
This same information can be corroborated by neighbors and the area LC1 officials, who can swear affidavits and still physically appear in Court to give oral evidence and even be cross-examined. The other option is appealing to the High Court in case he believes Her Worship Kamasanyu is biased and unlikely to judge him fairly. Expensive and costly as it maybe, this is an option the accused person must pursue in order to expeditiously regain his freedom.
The other option is to consider plea-bargain in which case, the accused person approaches the prosecution team ans accepts the charges and pleads guilty and thereby obliging the trial Magistrate to judge him leniently by giving him lighter sentencing, in line with terms prosecution and defense teams are supposed to have agreed upon.
All said and done, the ball is clearly in the accused person’s hands to take out the cheapest, safest and fastest option-and all this must be in consultation with his legal team.
