Uganda, Feb. 22 -- Three individuals, including Amos Kuuku, a lawyer, have petitioned the Constitutional Court to declare as unlawful a provision within the legal framework mandating prisoners to pay cash bail.

Other petitioners are former prisoners; Ezekiel Kasule and Frank Barnabas Kajubi.

The petition partly arises from the current reality where, in line with Section 78(b) of the Magistrates Courts Act, cash is imposed on many applicants for bail who are then kept in custody until the amount set is paid, or when the cash condition is revised by another court.

The court is now being invited to agree that Section 78(b) of that law contradicts Articles 21 and 126(2)(a) of the Constitution because it is discriminatory, restricts bail to...