Ugandan opposition Members of Parliament cleared of murder charges

Reagan Okumu MP (FDC Uganda)
MPs Ocula, Okumu acquitted - Court calls charges "a pack of lies"

by Julian Amutuhaire The Monitor Online

MPs Mike Ocula and Reagan Okumu, held on charges of murder, have been acquitted by the High Court. The two were freed along with another of their co-accused, Steven Otim Oulanya. The three had been accused of murdering Alfred Bongomin, an NRM mobilizer, in 2002.

Delivering his judgement on the matter, Justice John Bosco Katutsi referred to the evidence adduced by the state as "a pack of lies." He consequently ordered the immediate release of the three men.

Urbane Analysis: Opposition presidential candidate Dr. Kizza Besigye has called for an investigation into who brought the charges - and the men have vowed to sue for wrongful prosecution.

A former Lord's Resistance Army officer, meanwhile, has confessed to carrying out the murder.

You've gotta love the judge in this case, who called the government's charges "a crude and amateur attempt at creative work."

It appears that Dr. Besigye now has two more genuine celebrities to join him on the campaign podium in the big push toward the upcoming election, care of the fumbling starmaker machinery at State House - who are so focused on dirty tricks that they cannot see how their mindset has become their undoing. The people of Uganda, judging from the growing support for change there, know better.