Mabirizi starts fundraising to support his legal battles against govt

Mabirizi, who is currently in jail, launched a fundraising drive dubbed ‘Rule of Law Fundraising’, and has asked citizens to perform their duty by financially supporting him, saying that democracy by its nature comes at a price.

“It shall be a duty of every citizen to promote democracy and the rule of law…All citizens of Uganda shall have the right and duty at all times to defend this Constitution…and to do all in their power to restore this Constitution. All times include imprisonment time especially my illegal detention without trial,” reads Mabirizi’s appeal to Ugandans.

Mabirizi is currently detained at Luzira Maximum Security Prison following his arrest and conviction in February for contempt of court. High court civil division judge Musa Ssekaana issued an order for his arrest due to what the judge said was Mabirizi’s penchant for a continued attack on judicial officers.

Last week, the Court of Appeal advised Mabirizi to seek pardon from the court that sent him to prison. This was after the dismissal of applications in which Mabirizi wanted to be released.

While in jail, Mabirizi instituted criminal proceedings against Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister Norbert Mao, over his recent memorandum of understanding with President Yoweri Museveni.

In his application filed before the Entebbe Chief Magistrate's court, Mabirizi raised several charges including common nuisance, disobedience of statutory duty, and conspiracy to defraud Mao as the president general of the Democratic Party and the Democratic Party’s secretary general Gerald Siranda. The case was dismissed.