DPP seeks amendment of 48-hour law to produce suspects in court

The director of public prosecutions (DPP) is seeking a constitutional amendment that will provide a window for the extension of the 48-hour rule before which a suspect can be produced before court.

DPP Jane Frances Abodo says that the proposed amendment is for only complex cases like terrorism, theft of huge funds and others which her office cannot investigate in a short time and present suspects before court within the 48-hour window.

Article 23(4) (b) of the Constitution provides that "a person arrested or detained upon reasonable suspicion of his or her having committed or being about to commit a criminal offence, shall, if not earlier released, be brought to court as soon as possible but in any case not later than 48 hours from the time of his or her arrest."

Now according to Abodo, the 48-hour rule was brought into the country's law books way back in the 1995 Constitution and 28 years later, crime has changed both in the way it is committed and the people committing it.

"You cannot say that within 48 hours, you can be able to actually do a meaningful investigation of a terrorism case and have someone in court.... otherwise we shall not have anyone in court. The 48-hour rule should be there but we are asking....can the time be enlarged in some cases, that we go to court and ask for enlargement of time...that we have ABCD to handle...we are not saying all offences but it will be a case by case basis and not generally," said Abodo.

She emphasized the need to have time enlarged beyond 48 hours to enable the state to present clear cases to court.

"The 48 hours is constitutional but it is impractical for us who are on ground. It is really impractical to do that in some cases...these are cases we are saying that we should be able to go to court and make an application for more hours to cover some ground investigations. We can keep the person beyond the 48 hours," Abodo emphasized.

She also noted that the 48 hours can be ideal if there are enough prosecutors on the ground to handle investigations quickly. The DPP made the remarks on the sidelines of the 10th annual conference of the East Africa Association of Prosecutors (EAAP) that started yesterday Monday, in Munyonyo.

EAAP brings together 11 prosecuting agencies from different African countries like Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Sudan, Zambia, Ethiopia, Burundi, Rwanda, Malawi and others. The conference is under the theme "Transboundary Crime: Practical Approaches to Protecting Women and Children."