The outgoing Kampala Lord Mayor, Erias Lukwago, was on Wednesday charged with misprision of treason before being sent on remand at Luzira Prison.
ANTHONY WESAKA dissects for you what this charge that sounded new to the ears of many means, and the likely punishment on conviction.
Misprision of treason is a criminal offence that arises when a person knows that another individual has committed, is committing, or intends to commit treason but deliberately fails to report that information to the authorities.
Unlike treason, which involves direct participation in acts aimed at overthrowing or waging war against the government, misprision of treason does not require active involvement in the alleged plot.
Instead, the offence focuses on concealment or silence.
Under Ugandan law, a person can be charged with misprision of treason if they are aware of plans to commit treason and fail to disclose that information to a minister, a magistrate, the administrative officer, or a police officer in charge of a station.
The prosecution is mandated to prove that the accused person had actual knowledge that treason was being planned or had been committed, and also that the accused deliberately failed to report that information to the relevant authorities.
The offence is distinct from being an accomplice or co-conspirator. A person charged with misprision of treason is not accused of participating in the alleged treasonous activities but of withholding information about them.
The charge is relatively rare in Uganda and has only occasionally been invoked in politically sensitive prosecutions involving allegations of threats to national security.
Of life imprisonment
Section 25 of the Penal Code Act that addresses the concealment of treason, provides that: “Any person who knowing that any person intends to commit treason does not give information thereof with all reasonable dispatch to the Minister, an administrative officer, a magistrate or an officer in charge of a police station, or use all reasonable endeavours to prevent the commission of the offence of treason commits the offence of misprision of treason and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for life.”
Misprision of treason attracts up to imprisonment for life, while treason attracts up to death by hanging.
Misprision of treason can be handled by a Chief Magistrate’s Court, while treason is strictly handled by the High Court.