Stanley Kisambira, a driver employed by the Judiciary whose audio clip in which he complained of low pay has been charged over hate speech and subsequently remanded to Luzira government prison.
On Monday afternoon, Kisambira, 46 was arraigned before the Buganda Road Grade One Magistrate, Fidelis Otwao and charges related to hate speech contrary to section 26A(1) (c ) of the Computer Misuse Act 2022 read against him.
“On the 12th day of May, 2023, within Uganda, through a computer, shared on the judiciary transport whats app group information in form of a recorded audio which was likely to promote hostility against judges in the judiciary in that judges’ salaries are unfair and above those of their drivers and that a driver can decided to cause road accidents by ramming into a moving truck thereby killing the judges and their bodyguards,” the magistrate read the charges.
However, in response, the judiciary driver denied the charges.
The grade one magistrate adjourned the matter to June 2, 2023 and Kisambira was remanded to Luzira until then when he will appear before the trial magistrate who was not around today..
Efforts by the judiciary driver’s lawyers led by Derrick Bazekuketta and Stanley Okecho to have him released pending the appearance of the trial magistrate were futile.
The state prosecutor was also not in court on Monday.
The law
Section 26A(1) of the Computer Misuse Act 2022 provides that a person shall not write, send or share any information through a computer, which is likely to ridicule, degrade or demean another person, group of persons, a tribe, an ethnicity, a religion or gender; create divisions among persons, a tribe, an ethnicity, a religion or gender; or promote hostility against a person, group of persons, a tribe, an ethnicity, a religion or gender.
The law says that any person convicted for contravening this subsection is liable to to a fine not exceeding 750 currency points or imprisonment not exceeding seven years, or both.
One currency point currently is equal to shs20,000 and 750 currency points is equivalent to shs15 million.
The development follows an audio clip last week in which he complained of the exploitation of judiciary drivers earning a mere Shs200,000.
“I am a driver. I can ram into a stationery trailer, killing all occupants, including the judge and bodyguard,” Kisambira who has been with a judiciary for 15 years said in the audio clip.
The audio which has made rounds on social media has seen the judiciary driver hailed by a section of members of the public for coming out to address a critical issue of the welfare of the judiciary drivers.
The issue of salaries and allowances has been a hot topic in the past three or so weeks after Pte Wilson Sabiiti shot and killed his boss, Col (rtd) Charles Okello Engola reportedly over stress accumulated from financial difficulties.
Sabiiti would later turned the gun on himself.