MPs charged with corruption set to reapply for bail

__________________

Two Members of Parliament (MPs) who are facing corruption charges are scheduled to appear in court for bail applications on June 17, 2024.

Yusuf Mutembuli (Bunyole East), Paul Akamba (Busiki East Constituency) and Cissy Namujju (Lwengo Woman) were on June 12, 2024, charged with corruption at the Anti-Corruption Court with one count.

👉 MPs Mutembuli, Akamba, and Namujju remanded over corruption

(FILE) The trio appeared before Chief Magistrate Joan Aciro on Wednesday (June 12, 2024) and they all denied one count of corruption.

Akamba was later on June14, 2024, released on bail, but his two colleagues Mutembuli and Namujju were denied bail by the Nakasero based Anti-Corruption Court presided over by the Chief Magistrate Joan Aciro after they failed to present substantial sureties.

The court granted Akamba a cash bail of sh13m. His sureties Mariam Naigaga, the Woman MP for Namutumba district, and Henry Maurice Kibalya, the MP for Bugabula County South, are to execute a non-cash bond of sh100m each. Akamba was also ordered to deposit his passport with the court.

👉Corruption: Busiki county MP gets bail, Namujju and Mutambuli remain at Luzira prison

(FILE) Members of Parliament; Cissy Dionizia Namujju (Lwengo Woman), Yusuf Mutembuli (Bunyole East), and Paul Akamba (Busiki County) who were charged with corruption arrive at Nakaseero-based Anti-Corruption Court for their bail hearing on Friday, June 14, 2024. (Photo by Edward Luyimbazi)

Lawyers Asuman Basalirwa and Herbert Kidiya on Wednesday informed court that they will reapply for bail. The magistrate adjourned the case to June 17, 2024, to enable the accused reapply for bail.

It is alleged that Mutembuli, Akamba, and Namujju on May 13, 2024, at Hotel Africana in Kampala, solicited from Mariam Wangadya, the chairperson of the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) an undue advantage of 20 per cent of the anticipated enhanced budget of UHRC for the financial year 2024/2025 by asserting that they were able to exert improper influence over the decision making of the Budget Committee of Parliament to increase the budget of UHRC.

Wangadya served as the deputy Inspectorate of Government (IGG) before being appointed the chairperson of the commission. 

The trio of accused MPs denied the charge.