By Black Star:
The damage has already been done: Although the Patriotic League of Uganda (PLU)—a political outfit chaired by Gen Yoweri Museveni’s Chief of Defense Forces son, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba—has somersaulted on a picture of the Chairperson of the Uganda Judicial Service Commission (JSC), Justice Dr Douglas Karekona Singiza, in its offices where he reportedly endorsed Gen Muhoozi for Uganda’s presidency, the whitewashing has achieved much less to put the independence of Uganda’s judiciary and its impartiality on the spotlight, once again.
In August, PLU started in earnest, holding political rallies, soliciting endorsements and collecting 20 million signatures for Gen Muhoozi to replace his father in the top office in the land.
PO132—whereby PO stands for Patriotic Officer under PLU’s membership ranking—Faruk Kirunda, the Special Presidential Assistant and Deputy Press Secretary to Museveni, said on October 28 that PLU’s registration and endorsement drive is a smart method that no existing organization has attempted before. “It’s like an opinion poll,” Kirunda said, “but dealing with real people who have national IDs [Identity Cards] and contacts, targeting to have more members than the registered voters in the 2026 elections.”
Kirunda claims that some political groups often claim victory in elections based on opinion polls that used random people, who are neither members of the party nor voters, as respondents. “On Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba’s supposed bid for the presidency, clearly he has stated that his bid is after H.E Kaguta Museveni and not challenging him for the seat. Many are misunderstanding this while others are twisting it deliberately to create unnecessary anxiety and friction in the Ugandan public space,” Kirunda sought to clarify.
And as the endorsements still continue, PLU announced catching one of the biggest fish in the country before suddenly overturning the ‘catchment’ hours later, though. “This morning [of October 28] at the Office of the National Chairman [Gen Muhoozi] in Nakasero [a capital city Kampala upscale suburb], I was honoured to receive Hon. Justice Dr. Singiza Douglas Karekona, Chairperson of Uganda’s Judicial Service Commission, on a courtesy call. Justice Singiza warmly endorsed Gen@mkainerugaba for President of Uganda. A powerful affirmation of the vision we share for a stronger, more just nation,” a visibly elated Michael Mawanda, PLU’s Director of Mobilization, pictured with Dr Singiza on October 28, announced.
But in a U-turn statement on ‘cadre judge’ endorsement of Gen Muhoozi for the presidency released on October 28 evening, lawmaker David Kabanda who heads PLU’s Office of the National Chairman, said as a non-partisan, non-denominational and non-sectarian Civic Organization, the Patriotic League of Uganda shall keep its doors open, for constructive nation-building discussions with all citizens across the political divide, denominations and tribes.
“As the Patriotic League of Uganda (PLU) fraternity, our attention has been drawn to the inappropriate and inaccurate media assertions surrounding the appearance of Hon. Justice Dr. Douglas Karekona Singiza at the Office of the National Chairman of the Patriotic League of Uganda (PLU). To set the record straight, Hon Justice Dr Douglas Karekona Singiza was present at the Office of the PLU National Chairman today 28th October 2026, not to endorse Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba for the presidency, but rather on an official visit, as to any other officially recognized entity duly registered with the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB).
“Hon Justice Dr Douglas Karekona Singiza who is a bona-fide Ugandan citizen, a Uganda High Court Judge and the duly appointed current Chairperson of the Judicial Service Commission, is highly schooled, vastly experienced and extremely conversant with the canons of our laws, to be engaged in any illegality.”
The JSC exists to discipline judges for political bias, among other unethical misdemeanors and subscribing to partisan politics undermines the independence of the judiciary and raises questions of impartiality on the part of judicial officers in the execution of their judicial mandate.
Human Rights Lawyer Godwin Toko remembers Douglas Singiza as the magistrate who remanded now exiled Ugandan lawyer and novelist, Kakwenza Rukirabasaija, who had been disappeared for two weeks and was sneaked to his court in Kampala early in the morning without a lawyer, but bore “visible fresh and bleeding torture wounds”.
“He [Singiza] sent Kakwenza to Kitalya [Prison] for two weeks—the exact number of days Kakwenza had spent in illegal detention getting tortured! When he eventually released Kakwenza on bail, he ordered him to deposit his passport with court. Kakwenza, seeing the insurmountable odds of justice stuck against him, fled to exile without a passport!
“Singiza was, months later,” Toko claims, “promoted to the High Court as a judge and then head of the Uganda Judicial Service Commission, the body that recommends judicial officers for appointment—and punishes those that do not stick to their judicial oath.”
Again, according to Toko, the best thing about PLU is that they document everything. “They don’t keep it to themselves, for years, some judicial officers were suspected of being ‘NRM [Museveni’s ruling National Resistance Movement] cadre judges’, but not even sharped-eyed investigative journalists found evidence, let alone photos, to prove that. Not with PLU. They document everything and share it to the world—for posterity! I really like this about them, there will be no guessing in the future…”
“But this is patently absurd,” Anthony Natif, Campaigner for Good Governance and Inclusive Growth, reacts to Chairperson of the whole JSC appearing at the offices of a political vehicle chaired by a serving military officer. The Constitution and laws governing the armed forces in the country bar active-service members from engaging in partisan politics. Civil servants, too, are expected to resign from their respective positions before becoming active participants in politics.
“In a semi-serious country,” Natif suggests, “regardless of political affiliation, regardless as to whether you like Gen MK [Muhoozi Kainerugaba] or loathe him, this picture would call for the immediate resignation of Justice Dr Douglas Karekona Singiza. This is lawlessness on steroids. No one should [want to] live in a country where this is okay. That’s not to say Judges should be apolitical. They have as much a right to choose as all other citizens.”
No reaction whatsoever has since surfaced publicly from Justice Singiza as a person or the judiciary as an institution by the time this article went to bed.
For now, nonetheless, with a judge of the High Court of Uganda pictured with PLU’s whole Director of Mobilization in its Chairman’s office, the U-turn does very little to scrape and scrap the already ingrained public perception that a judicial officer was ‘indeed mobilized’.
