An accountant from the ministry of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development, alongside two officials from Kaliro district, have been charged with causing financial loss amounting to Shs 1.5 billion.
John Wabwire, an accountant from the ministry of Finance, Rebecca Kwagala, the principal human resource officer, and Godfrey Mutome, the chief finance officer of Kaliro district, appeared before the Anti-Corruption court in Kampala, presided over by grade one magistrate Esther Asiimwe.
The trio faced seven counts of causing financial loss. Court documents revealed allegations that the officials irregularly initiated, processed, and approved fictitious gratuity and pension payments between July 1, 2018, and June 30, 2022. The officials allegedly acted in collusion, with Kwagala and Mutome initiating and approving payments, while Wabwire processed the payments.
The officials who were charged on Thursday and pleaded not guilty were later remanded to Luzira prison, where they spent a night before they were granted bail on Friday. Kwagala and Mutome were each granted cash bail of Shs 3 million, with each of their three sureties bonded at Shs 250 million not cash. Wabwire on the other hand was granted a cash bail of Shs 2.5 million, with each of his three sureties bonded at Shs 250 million.
The case is set to proceed to pre-trial conferencing on April 1. Earlier in 2023, the principal human resource officer of Pader district, Aber Nancy was arrested on charges related to irregular payments of pension and gratuity funds in the district. According to the State House Anti Corruption Unit, it is alleged that during the financial year 2017/2018, the ministry of Finance sent more than Shs 2 billion as pension and gratuity for pensioners in Pader district with the verified and approved list of pensioners.
But Aber, allegedly decided not to pay 19 pensioners who did not cooperate in a way of paying her bribes. About seven years ago, four other people including the late lawyer Bob Kasango, Jimmy Lwamafa the former secretary for the ministry of Public Service, former principal accountant in the pensions department, late Christopher Obey, former director of research and development Stephen Kiwanuka Kunsa were sent to prison for different roles played in the mismanagement of pension cash.
They were found guilty of conspiring to forge a court order, a certificate of taxation and a certificate of costs directing the Attorney General to pay the late Kasango’s defunct law firm, Hall and Partners Shs 15.4 billion which was meant for pension and gratuity of more than 6,340 pensioners between 2011 and 2012.
As a result, Kasango the prime suspect was given 16 years for his various roles in the scam, Obey 14 years, while Lwamafa and Kunsa were all given a nine-year jail term. Lwamafa was however in August 2023 released from prison following a presidential pardon.
The Military Court is also trying Captain Gerald Bitindi Byamugisha attached to the Chieftaincy of Pensions and Gratuity in UPDF (COPG) and Captain Lamek M.Kimula attached to the 65 Infantry Battalion as an acting adjutant for swindling pension for the former UPDF Maj Gen James Kazini.
It is alleged that Byamugisha and Kimula in 2017 while in Kampala Capital City with intent to defraud opened fictitious bank accounts number 2043160022366 and later renewed to 204206051074101 in Pride Microfinance City branch in the name of late Maj Gen James Kazini’s widow Mosiko Lela and falsely obtained Shs 62 million.
