Four senior officials from the office of the Prime Minister have been charged with colluding to commit a fraudulent practice in disregard of provisions of procurement regulations.
The officials who include the Permanent Secretary Christine Guwatudde Kintu, undersecretary Joel Wanjala, Assistant Commissioner for Procurement Fred Lutimba and Commissioner for Disaster Management Martin Owor reportedly mismanaged the procurement of food supplies for people whose livelihood was disrupted by government measures to contain coronavirus -COVID-19.
Court presided over by Grade One Magistrate Doreen Karungi heard that between March 31 and April 8, at the Office of the Prime Minister in Kampala, the accused persons colluded to commit a fraudulent practice during the procurement process. The government ordered for 9,030,000 kilograms of maize flour and 635,000 kilograms of beans. The suppliers included Afro Kai Uganda Ltd, Global Trust Ltd, Mandela Millers and Aponye Uganda Ltd.
The accused persons denied the charges. Although their lawyers led by Fred Muwema and Ntambirweki Kandebe attempted to apply for bail, their efforts yielded no fruit. The Presiding Magistrate said that she never wanted the process to take more time because the courtroom was too congested contrary to the presidential directive on gathering.
Attempts to decongest the courtroom did not help when the magistrate maintained her position on remand. But Muwema argued that COVID-19 cannot be used as an excuse to violate people’s rights.
“We are not sure when the COVID-19 situation will end. Nonetheless, the accused still have their rights to get bail. We have strong instructions from our clients and all other issues of congestion were not sanctioned by them because it’s the court to control who comes in and who gets out”, Muwema said.
These also made an attempt to apply for bail through their eleven defence lawyers, but the presiding magistrate declined to entertain it on grounds that she cannot conduct lengthy hearings due to the prevailing circumstances of a lockdown to prevent the spread of Coronavirus.
The magistrate noted the accused’s relatives and lawyers had filled the courtroom to capacity while violating the President’s and ministry of Health guidelines on social distancing.
The accused have been therefore remanded until May 4 as inquiries in the case continue.
