A report by human right activists under their umbrella of Advocates Sans Frontiers (ASF) has revealed that 58 percent of suspects spend more than 216 hours (nine days) in detention without trial.
The report, which was released yesterday, shows that the 48-hour rule is not complied with in police and prisons.
The report, “Protecting constitutional and procedural rights of pre-trial detainees through access to justice in Uganda”, was conducted in nine months of 2021 by interviewing 613 suspects.
These were 477 men and 136 female suspects from six districts of Arua, Gulu, Masindi, Kitgum, Kampala and Wakiso in 12 prisons.
Rashid Bunya, the project coordinator of ASF, said of the inmates interviewed, about 40 percent had Universal Primary Education and 37 percent had no qualifications while 41 percent of women interviewed had no qualification and 38 percent had Primary Leaving Examinations qualifications.
He added that provision of legal aid in prisons visited does not cover most of the prisoners and tends to focus on the most vulnerable such as refugees.
The Uganda Human Rights Commission chairperson, Ms Mariam Wangadya, said there is a need to expedite the passing of the Legal Aid Bill to enable easy access to the lawyers.
