The right to liberty for suspected capital offenders in police custody in regard to the constitutional 48 hours rule in Uganda

Abstract

Respect, protection and promotion of human rights including the protection of personal liberty is a pre-condition for achieving a state of peace. In Uganda, this right provides that an accused person shall, if not earlier released, be brought to court as soon as possible but in any case, not later than forty-eight hours from the time of his or her arrest (Article 23 (4) (b)). However, this right has been perpetually violated in Uganda particularly in respect to capital offenders despite some efforts put in place for its protection. As such this study examined the failure to respect the right to liberty for suspected capital offenders in police custody regarding the constitutional 48 hours rule in selected Divisions under Kampala metropolitan police. The study was guided by a cross sectional design and used both qualitative and quantitative methods to collect data to meet its objective. The participants included suspected capital offenders, investigating officers and others. The study found that the right is grossly violated and some of the reasons behind this is the unrealistic nature of the 48-hours rule, the sophisticated nature of some cases, inadequate skills by investigating officers, among others. The study also found that holding suspects beyond 48 hours has several negative implications including psychological issues and loss of reputation. The study made some recommendations that can move a long way in upholding this provision and they include Decentralization of Forensic Laboratories, Pre-investigation efforts before Arrest, Prosecutor-led Investigations and, capacity building of officers, among others