Godber Wilson Tumushabe, a policy analyst, senior lecturer at Makerere University School of Law and Chief Executive Officer of the Great Lakes Institute for Strategic Studies (GLISS), has questioned the line of inquiry taken by detectives after appearing before the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID) over allegations of money laundering and illicit financial flows.
Tumushabe appeared before investigators at the Kampala Metropolitan East Regional CID offices on Jinja Road on Monday in response to a police summons dated June 25. The summons required him to record a statement and present documentation relating to the operations and finances of GLISS as part of ongoing investigations into suspected financial crimes.
According to the summons, Tumushabe was instructed to provide information and records concerning the institute’s activities to the Regional CID Officer, D/SP Naboth Kusiima.
Speaking after the session, Tumushabe said he cooperated fully with investigators and spent several hours answering questions about the institute’s work, sources of funding, expenditure and programme implementation.
However, he expressed surprise that detectives also sought to know why some of the organisation’s resources had been used for activities related to politics and governance.
He maintained that GLISS has a mandate to undertake research on governance and political affairs, arguing that such work falls squarely within the organisation’s objectives.
“Our work covers governance and politics. Research in those areas is part of our mandate, so it would be impossible to ignore them,” Tumushabe said.
GLISS is among several civil society organisations whose bank accounts were frozen by the Financial Intelligence Authority (FIA) in February this year as investigations into suspected illicit financial transactions commenced. At the time, the authority said the action was taken within its legal mandate to prevent suspicious transactions while inquiries were ongoing.
Tumushabe said he was not the only civil society leader being investigated, noting that several others had also been summoned by police over similar allegations.
He claimed that civic organisations have faced increasing scrutiny from security agencies for years, adding that his organisation stopped seeking donor-funded projects several years ago, making the current investigations difficult for him to understand.
He accused the government of using security institutions to intimidate organisations engaged in civic and governance work, saying such actions undermine legitimate public participation.
Tumushabe also dismissed allegations contained in intelligence reports suggesting that some civil society organisations are advancing foreign interests aimed at destabilising the government. He insisted that GLISS operates independently and within the law, and said its activities are focused on research and policy analysis.
He said he had submitted all the information requested by investigators and was prepared to provide any additional documentation if required as investigations continue.
The ongoing inquiry has also drawn in officials from several other organisations. Six officials from AGORA Centre for Research Ltd have already recorded statements in connection with alleged fraud and money laundering investigations.
Other individuals summoned by police include Henry Otafiire, Godwin Toko, Haggai Matsiko and Patrick Murungi. Journalist and activist Agather Atuhaire has also been directed to appear before the Kampala Metropolitan North Regional Police Headquarters in Kawempe on Tuesday afternoon to record a statement in relation to the same investigations.
Police had not yet issued a public statement on the progress of the investigations by the time of publication.
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