The trial of three Members of Parliament facing corruption charges kicked off at the Anti-Corruption Court in Kampala on Friday.
The first prosecution witness was the Chairperson of Uganda Human Rights Commission; Mariam Wangadya who appeared in the court presided over by Justice Lawrence Gidudu.
Wangadya narrated that MPS, Robina Rwakojo, and Yusuf Mutembuli the Vice Chairperson and other members she could not remember promised to lead her to someone who would help resolve the commission’s problems.
Wangadya told the court that did not know whether MP, Fox Odoi attended the committee but he approached her from outside saying, he would lead her.
She testified that Fox Odoi took her to Yusuf Mutembuli and left her with him.
Fox Odoi-Oywelowo, a lawyer and the West Budama North MP in the current Parliament. He previously worked in the President’s office.
According to Wangadya, Fox Odoi left her with Yusuf Mutembuli. She further stated that Yusuf Mutembuli said the Uganda Human Rights Commission’s problems would require the presence of the Accounting Officer as well.
She said that she insisted that she should be informed of the solution to the problem.
Yusuf Mutembuli allegedly told her that the solution was that UHRC give a cut of 5 percent of its budget to the members of Parliament and she should do the same.
Wangadya said she refused that it wouldn’t happen, but Mutembuli insisted that she should call her Accounting Officer who would probably understand it better.
It’s Wangadya’s testimony that Yusuf Mutembuli said if there is no 5 percent cut, they were not going to have the budget increased as per the phone call conversation told to her by Accountant Margaret Ejang.
She said the accountant refused and said she rather resign from the job than give a bribe. Wangadya said to date; her budget remains a miserable 15 billion shillings.
Wangadya narrated that later, Mutembuli called her promising to take her to his colleague who would listen to her and help UHRC.
She said Yusuf Mutembuli later met him on Saturday at Parliament. She said she was later taken to someone to whom she shared UHRC financial problems.
Wangadya said the person they met told her she needed to know what they do there at Parliament before writing a small chit showing 5 percent of the total budget.
She told the court that at that moment, she knew that the budget of the Commission was not about to be changed.
Wangadya told the court that she discovered that the person they took her to was, Mudimi Wamakuyu the Elgon County MP. Mudimi Wamkuyu is currently detained at Luzira for stealing money meant to compensate cooperatives
Wangadya said donors had threatened to stop funding the commission and some offices of the commission had already closed.
She said she wanted to resign because she felt the government had put her in an office that they never wanted to fund. She feared being branded a failure.
Wangadya said she met President Museveni in April 2024 and narrated her problems since September 2021 when she was appointed to the commission.
She reportedly told the president that she had been humiliated enough, and asked for the President’s intervention to resuscitate the Commission by funding it.
According to Wangadya, when she left the State House, the President called her saying he was very disgusted and promised to act against any MP who was involved.
President Museveni advised her not to resign because he was very annoyed and promised to act, according to the testimony.
Wangadya said that she left and later got a call from Yusuf Mutembuli saying they should meet him and his colleagues at Hotel Africana.
The Court has further heard that when Yusuf Mutembuli called Wangadya on May 13, 2024, she was at the Housing Finance Bank, and was called thrice.
Wangadya told the court that she called the ADC of President Museveni, Major Betty Agaba, and that Agaba responded that the President had already laid a trap to catch the MPs involved in corruption.
Agaba reportedly asked Wangadya not to move anywhere but to wait for her at Housing Finance Bank. She said an hour later, Major Agaba arrived with a recording device and she said she had instructions from the President that she should use that recorder.
Wangadya said Major Agaba taught her how to use the recording device, which was a pen recorder, and after learning how to operate it, she left to meet Yusuf Mutembuli and the group.
Wangadya narrated that she found Yusus Mutembuli and Paul Akamba waiting for her and they waited for Cissy Namujju to arrive because she had been told that she was very vital.
That another female MP had already left. Wangadya said Namujju arrived, but she knew her from TV. However, Mutembuli said she is Cissy.
Wangadya completed the second name to say I know her, this is Cissy Namujju the Lwengo District Woman MP. Wangadya was able to identify Cissy Namujju who was in the dock as the person she met at Africana.
In the meeting at Africana, Wangadya said she was told that the MPs wanted compliance with her colleagues, and Namujju asked her how much she was willing to surrender.
In response, Wangadya told them they had previously asked for 5 percent. But then Yusuf Mutembuli said if he was in Wangadya’s situation at the UHRC, she would even consent to 20 percent of the Commission’s budget.
It’s Wangadya’s testimony that the three MPs later went through the budget Committee of the UHRC which also included the activities they were to carry out as the Commission.
According to Wangadya, the three MPs Cissy Namujju, Yusuf Mutembuli, and Paul Akamba analyzed the budget and started looking for activities to scrap off, basically, the ones that would be easily accounted for.
Wangadya said Namujju told her in Luganda that if they pass her budget and she does not give them 20 percent, “*ajakutabuka*) because the campaign periods were near.
Wangadya narrated that Cissy Namujju kept using hard tone Luganda words she was unable to repeat properly aiming at getting money in all ways by threatening her.
She said moments later, Cissy Namujju left Yusuf Mutembuli. She was told that Cissy Namujju was very powerful and could reach everyone in the country including the President.
Throughout all this, their mode of communication was through WhatsApp calls.
The court heard that after the Africana meeting, she called Major Agaba about the recording device since she did not know whether it had recorded good quality audio or what.
Nevertheless, the audio was good enough. She testified that a few days later, she received a call from President Museveni who said he was very incensed with what he heard from the recordings, and said he would seek legal advice from the DPP to see if a crime was committed through the recorded conversation.
The recording was later handed over to CID and through police officer Susan Kasingye, she recorded a statement and surrendered her phone for forensic analysis.
Wangadya wanted to play the voices of the recorded conversations, but the accused persons’ lawyers protested.
They said she was not an expert on recorded voices, and they were not sure if the voices were for their clients. They said what if the voices were from heaven or from very far.
High Court Justice Lawrence Gidudu adjourned the MPs case to 2:30 pm for a hearing of their respective bail applications.
He said shortly after hearing the bail applications, he would then inform the parties when he would deliver his decision regarding whether the audio recorded by Wangadya should be played or not
How the Trial Started.
As early as 10:00 am, the presiding Judge entered the courtroom. With his face beaming, Judge Lawrence Gidudu inquired about the whereabouts of the accused, prompting laughter from those present.
He then observed that the accused persons appeared remarkably well rested and ‘fresh”
The accused are Lwengo District Woman representative Cissy Namujju, Bunyole East MP Yusuf Mutembuli, and Busiki South MP, Akamba stood on the opposite side of the dock.
The accused persons also appeared well-prepared to be seen by the judge. They are Ntambirweki Kandeebe, Mwesigwa Rukutana, Brian Rubaihayo and Edgar Ayebazibwe represent Cissy Namujju. Evans Ochieng and Caleb Alaka among others represented Yusuf Mutembuli and Akamba.
The accused persons Namujju, Mutembuli and Akamba too plea before Justice Lawrence Gidudu. The accused persons denied corruption charges. The judge then asked them if they knew and were agreeable facts between the Prosecution and the Defense Lawyers.
A team of State Attorneys led by Chief State Attorney, Jonathan Muwaganya represented the Prosecution.
Muwaganya then went to read a brief background about each of the accused regarding their roles as MPs. He told the Court that Yusuf Mutembuli is MP for Bunyole East and Deputy Chairperson for the Budget Committee.
He added that Paul Akamba was a member of the Budget Committee of Parliament until December 2023 and that Cissy Namujju Dionizia is the Lwengo District Woman MP and former member of the Budget Committee of the 11th Parliament, a position she held until December 2023.
That she was also a member of the Public Accounts Committee Central Government at the time of her arrest a month ago.
Muwaganya told the court that all those facts had been discussed and were agreed with defense lawyers as agreeable facts.
However, Justice Lawrence Gidudu said that was not enough. He said he anticipated being told something bigger and that they had raised his appetite in anticipation of something bigger.
The judge said the law says they are supposed to agree on matters that are undisputed like names and places of work and he did not expect evidence regarding names.
Judge Gidudu then guided them on the kind of evidence that they needed to bring for instance court orders, permission to bring those court orders, bringing the Human Rights Commission Chairperson, Mariam Wangadya, and a person who could speak in respect of all the documents, and other non-tangible evidence like CCTV cameras for the court to understand properly.
However, Mwesigwa Rukutana who represented Cissy Namujju told the court that they disagreed with the entire process because he thought it would not be proper to sever some information.
Caleb Alaka who represented Yusuf Mutembuli and Paul Akamba agreed with Rukutana and added that they requested the Clerk to Parliament for some documents. Nevertheless, the Judge cut him short saying they had not reached that stage.
The Court then gave each of the accused people’s acronyms for simplicity purposes and wanted each of them to sign.
The judge said for purposes of this trial, Yusuf Mutembuli will be called A1 (accused number one), Paul Akamba A2 (accused number 2) and Cissy Namujju will be called A3(accused number three). Each of their lawyers was required to sign the documents in that respect.
The Court appointed two assessors. These are ordinary persons who listen to the trial and later advise the Judge on whether to convict the accused persons or to set them free. Based on how they analyze the evidence presented by the Prosecutors. Their opinion however does not stop the Judge from making his own independent decision.
The assessors are: Gabriel Obonyo 59 years old has knowledge in accounting and graduated from Uganda College of Commerce in Nakawa, Clemensia Nabudde a Social Worker.
Justice Gidudu asked each of the accused persons whether they had any objections (issues) with the assessors appointed to help the judge in the trial. All the accused, Cissy Namujju, Paul Akamba and Yusuf Mutembuli said they didn’t have any issues with the assessors, and they(assessors )were accordingly confirmed.
The assessors took an oath to advise the Court properly in the pending trial with their skills and abilities. The Prosecution’s Jonathan Muwaganya told the Court that they had witnesses in the court and prayed that the trial of Cissy Namujju, Paul Akamba, and Yusuf Mutembuli on corruption charges commence.
However, Mwesigwa Rukutana and other lawyers objected to the commencement of the trial. They said Paul Akamba, Yusuf Mutembuli, and Cissy Namujju already applied for bail, and the matter had been fixed for Friday 2 August 2024.
Mwesigwa Rukutana told the Court that the bail issues touched fundamental rights such as the right to liberty, and that they should be heard before the trial started. Nevertheless, the Prosecutor Muwaganya said, he got instructions from the DPP to prepare for the trial.
He added that he told the DPP about the bail application, and the DPP sent instructions regarding whether he is ready to handle the bail applications.
Muwaganya said he would be able to inform the court whether he had instructions to handle the bail application before the day ended.
Justice Lawrence Gidudu ruled that he was the one in charge of what starts first because it was his court that fixed both the bail application and the trial. He asked the DPP to prepare to first present their witnesses and prepare to get ready to hear the bail application also today.
The Prosecution informed the Court that they intended to present six witnesses and in case of anything, they would present not more than 8 witnesses, they wanted to rely on to find Paul Akamba, Cissy Namujju and Yusuf Mutembuli guilty of corruption.
All the six planned witnesses for the Prosecution were in Court. However, Caleb Alaka, Yusuf Mutembuli’s lawyer said he was not ready for the trial. However, he was ready to present bail. However, Justice Gidudu said that was poor planning and it was Alaka’s problem.
Justice Gidudu said he had given the accused persons more than a month to prepare for bail but they chose mobile lawyers who are all over East Africa and not ready to handle their matters instead of looking for those who are not busy.
The Judge said the Anti-Corruption Court works as a conveyor belt and everything has to be faster.
The First Prosecution witness Mariam Wangadya the Chairperson Of UHRC is in the dock to testify in the case in which MPs Cissy Namujju, Yusuf Mutembuli, and Paul Akamba are charged with corruption. At that moment , the trial had begun.
Mariam Wangadya told the Court that she came to know Paul Akamba when she appeared before the Budget Committee of Parliament to present policy statements for the Uganda Human Rights Commission.
She said the Commission appeared several times before the Committee around May and told MPS that it had financial challenges and needed 58 billion shillings. She said the committee listened to their cries but nothing changed.
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