All set: Uganda Prisons boss says ready and waiting for Christopher Okello execution

• Uganda Prisons says it is ready to execute Christopher Okello once a warrant is signed.

• Commissioner General Johnson Byabashaija said execution would occur within 72 hours of approval.

• Uganda has not carried out civilian executions since 1999, despite retaining the death penalty in law.

Uganda Prisons Commissioner General Johnson Byabashaija has said the prison service is fully prepared to carry out the execution of death row inmate Christopher Okello Onyum, who was this week sentenced to death for the murder of four toddlers.

Byabashaija has been responding on social media to growing public debate about the Prison’s readiness to carry out a death row inmate’s execution.

Uganda Prisons has not hanged an inmate in over 25 years, and public concerns had started to emerge about the current state of its gallows and expertise.

Speaking in response to public queries on social media, Byabashaija dismissed concerns about the readiness of the prison system, saying the process remains intact and handled by trained personnel.

“Once the (presidential) warrant is out, the subject will be executed within 72 hours. No worries,” he said.

He added that executions are a specialised duty conducted by trained staff, addressing questions raised by users about whether Uganda still has a hangman and whether the system has been maintained over the years.

Christopher Okello Onyum was convicted by the High Court for the brutal killing of four children in April 2026. 

The court found that he had planned and carried out the attacks with clear intent, rejecting his defence that he was mentally unwell.

In sentencing, the judge described the crimes as “heinous and gruesome,” and that the victims were defenceless children and that the convict showed no remorse.

The court ruled that the case fell under the “rarest of rare” category, warranting the death penalty under Uganda’s sentencing guidelines.

Uganda retains the death penalty for serious offences such as murder and aggravated robbery. However, executions have been rare in recent decades.

The last widely documented civilian executions took place on April 30, 1999, when 28 prisoners were hanged at Luzira Prison. A later execution linked to military offences was reported in 2003. Since then, Uganda has not carried out executions, creating what legal experts describe as a de facto moratorium.

Despite the prisons’ readiness, Okello’s execution is not immediate. He has 14 days to appeal the sentence in higher courts.

Even if the sentence is upheld, the President holds constitutional powers to commute death sentences to life imprisonment, a practice that has been used in several cases.

However, President Yoweri Museveni has in the past expressed support for reviving executions. In 2018, he indicated willingness to sign death warrants, citing rising crime rates and concerns that leniency may embolden offenders.