Less than a year after being arrested in Tanzania, Jamil Mukulu, the leader of the Allied Democratic Front (ADF) may soon be a free man.
Asked why it had come to this, the Judiciary urges that Uganda Police and the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) have failed to gather enough evidence to pin Makulu.
He is still detained at Nalufenya police post long after he was charged before the Jinja Magistrate Court.
Mukulu was remanded to Nalufenya police by the Chief Magistrate of Jinja, John Francis Kaggwa on the request of eight months ago.
The judicial rules of criminal procedure provide that suspects charged with capital offenses be remanded to prison until the case is committed to the High Court.
The rules also provide that any suspect not granted bail by the judiciary shall be remanded to a prison within the jurisdiction of the court.
ADF announced its existence in Uganda in 1996 with an attack on Mpondwe town at the border with DR Congo. The attack was repulsed after several days of fighting but ADF remained active in the Rwenzori sub-region for many years thereafter.
The guerrilla outfit was eventually weakened but it remains a security threat, recruiting youths in different parts of Uganda and masterminding sporadic attacks inside Uganda and Congo. Over the years, some of their fighters have been captured or killed while others have surrendered and obtained amnesty. But Mukulu, the founder, remained elusive.
In February 2001, Interpol issued a red notice for Mukulu and posted his photographs on its website.
Security then said Mukulu had more than 10 passports, used numerous pseudo names and doctored his appearances to evade capture.
Uganda’s efforts to arrest Mukulu dates back to 2002 when the then army Chief of Staff, Maj. Gen. Nakibus Lakara, said the Government would issue an arrest warrant for him.
In May 2013, Jamil’s son, Hassan Nyanzi, was granted amnesty after he denounced the rebellion and handed himself over to Ugandan authorities.
He had reportedly from the ADF camp in DR Congo in April 2013 and travelled to Kenya from where he connected to Uganda.
Mukulu’s arrest last August came at the time when Kasada Karume, the third-in-command of ADF has been killed following intensive fighting between ADF and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) army, Kinshasa army and the United Nations have announced.
