UGANDA: ‘DEATH PENALTY IS BAD’

a retiring judge, Justice Joseph Nyamihana Mulenga, who was on the panel that upheld the death sentence in Uganda, now said he does not believe in the sentence. “Now that I have left the bench, I don’t have fear of contradicting myself in future, I don’t believe in death penalty. I don’t think it is useful but I am aware that most people continue to think it is a deterrent.” Only Justice Egonda Ntende differed from his colleagues when he ruled that the manner in which the death sentence is carried out constitutes cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment which is contrary to Articles 24 and 44(a) of the Constitution. Justice Mulenga says the evidence has shown that death penalty doesn’t have the effect of deterrence. “Otherwise the number of people that have been hanged over the century would have been sufficient to dissuade murderers from murdering,” Justice Mulenga said.