By Our Reporter,
NATIONAL
The famous General Court Martial boss, Lt. Gen. Andrew Gutti has on Monday 1st August, 2022 officially handed over instruments of service to new chairman, Gen. Freeman.
Gen Gutti who is headed for retirement from the army has been at the helm of this court for a period of six years.
He handed over to Brig. Gen Robert Freeman who was last month appointed by H.E president Museveni new chairman of the court.
Speaking at the handover ceremony at the court martial in Makindye, the UPDF spokesperson Brig Gen Felix Kulaigye commended Gutti for serving with diligence.
“Rtd Gen. Andrew Gutti has had a rare opportunity of having his term renewed six times. That’s not a minor achievement, it shows that the appointing authority trusted him,” said Kulaigye, “As UPDF, we are thankful to him for executing his duties expeditiously.”
In his remarks, Gutti recounted his six year tenure as not a journey of roses citing out frequent interferences from civil courts, inadequate facilitation of the court and prolonged investigations as major hindrances to dispensation of justice in the court martial.
He stated that its because of such unavoidable reasons there are still case backlogs at the court martials.
However, the defense mouthpiece Kulaigye challenged the new court boss, Brig. Gen. Freeman to quickly tackle this challenge.
“There is a backlog of cases pending and many people are on remand in varoius prisons, but, a new chairman must expeditiously handle this to ensure that this backlog is reduced,” said Brig. Gen. Kulaigye
Shortly after taking an oath and receiving court instruments like a hammer and the court seal, Brig Freeman pledged to render fair justice to all as per the constitution.
During the handover ceremony, Gen Gutti has further given an accountability inform of a report to the CDF Gen Wilson Mbadi and Brig. Mugabe. However details of this report have been kept confidential from the press.
The UPDF commander CDF Gen. Wilson Mbadi has hourned Gen Gutti with a souvenir to appreciate his work.
Lt. Gen Andrew Gutti’s name became more popular in 2018 when he handled three high profile cases involving former Police boss, IGP Gen. Kale Kayihura and his senior police officers, the fierce former Boda-boda 2010 patron Abdullah Kitatta, and alleged “treason” case against NUP leader Robert Kyagulangyi Ssentamu and other NUP supporters.
By the time of his retirement, an unestimated number of people majorly opposition politicians and civilian political activists have been tried in this court and others are still on remand on treason related charges among others.
