L-R: The children of the late Joan Kagezi, George Phillip Kagezi, John Harvey Kagezi and Pearl Priscillar Kagezi on Thursday during the memorial lecture in honour of their mother who was shot dead last year. PHOTO BY ABUBAKER LUBOWA.
Kampala. South African national director of public prosecutions advocate Shaun Abrahams on Thursday used the Joan Kagezi memorial lecture to call upon African governments to provide security to their prosecutors to avert a repeat of the fate that befell Kagezi.
Mr Abrahams was the main speaker at the lecture held in Kampala in honour and memory of Kagezi. Kagezi was gunned down by assailants trailing her on a boda boda on her way back home in Kiwatule, a city suburb, last year.
Mr Abrahams was particularly infuriated by the rampant killings of public prosecutors in various African countries and even the US as they bring to book implicated criminals.
“What happened to Joan was tragic. Today I call upon the African Union and the United Nations to honour the safety of African prosecutors and independence of prosecutors and establish trust in our fallen heroes and not to do so will jeopardise their lives,” said Mr Abrahams amid applause from the audience.
“Prosecutors should be physically protected and states should provide security to the prosecutors at their office and other places,” he added. “In honour of Joan Kagezi and other fallen prosecutors, I propose that there should be awards in memory of them like the Joan Kagezi award.”
During the documentary that was played to reflect on Kagezi’s life to the public at the memorial lecture, High Court judge Susan Okalany revealed that following the brutal murder of Kagezi, all prosecutors who were handling sensitive cases at that time were given security.
The rest of the team
However, she wondered about the other prosecutors who were not given security yet they also handle equally sensitive cases.
It’s now a year after Kagezi’s murder and police have never arrested the suspects although the Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr Mike Chibita, has since indicated there are two useful clues that might lead to the arrest of the assailants.
Kagezi’s murder was largely linked to her being a lead prosecutor in the trial of the 2010 terror suspects in which 13 men are accused of masterminding the Kampala twin bombings that killed at least 76 people who were watching the World Cup final between Spain and Netherlands at Kyadondo Rugby Club in Lugogo and Ethiopian Village Restaurant in Kabalagala suburb on July 11, 2010.
Chief Justice Bart Katureebe who was the chief guest at the Kagezi Memorial Lecture, said: “If all those who took Joan’s life, did so because of her job, then they must have realised by now that they were terribly mistaken if they thought they would stop others from carrying on her work. All of us who are involved in fighting organised crime and terror must rededicate and double our efforts.”
Justice Katureebe also used the memorial lecture to caution that terrorists are more sophisticated in terms of technology which sophistication, he said is far from that of the public prosecutors.
To that effect, he called upon the relevant stakeholders to appropriately equip public prosecutors to match or even supersede the terrorists’ technology.
The Chief Justice also cautioned against blame-game between the various investigating agencies on why there has been a delay in tracking the assailants. He said in such a time, such investigating agencies should work together.
The Joan Kagezi Memorial lecture was held under the theme “Fighting Terrorism And Organised Crime”.
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