EXCLUSIVE: The former Minister of State for Water and Environment, Mr. Ronald Kibuule has come under the spotlight over allegations that he is trying to use his influence to grab government property.
According to a source close to this website, Kibuule who was dropped from the cabinet after losing out his legislative seat is involved in a bitter standoff with officials at the Ministry, over the ownership of the vehicle that he was using as his official car.
The source reveals that following the expiry of his tenure, the current administration at the Ministry decided to auction the vehicle, a Toyota Prado that Kibuule has been all along cruising.
However, although under normal circumstances the Ministry is supposed to source for auctioneers through the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets (PPDA), insiders reveal that Kibuule is trying to arm-twist some officials in the Procurement Department such that he can buy it at a giveaway price.
This is because whereas the current market value of the vehicle is around between Shs70- to 90M, Kibuule is offering a paltry Shs3M and is doing everything possible to ensure that it remains in possession.
However, as if that is not enough, sources also reveal that through his machinations and clout, Kibuule has since reportedly grabbed a chunk of land that is meant to be a government forest reserve in Kayunga District, on which he set up private projects and built a multi-billion mansion.
It should be noted that the acts that are being perpetrated by Kibuule are tantamount to conflict of interest, corruption, misuse of office among other charges whereby if his action attracts the interest the Inspector General of Government and he gets convicted he faces up to five years in jail.
But Kibuule is not new to controversy, because his name has featured I several scandals over time. For instance, in 2016, he came under criticism for assaulting a private security guard at Stanbic Bank, in Mukono City.
It was alleged then that Kibuule beat up a female security guard after she insisted that he undergoes a routine security check at a Stanbic Bank Mukono branch. The minister later, reportedly ordered his police bodyguards to arrest the guard on libel offences.
Ms Hellen Obuku, a private security guard attached to Stanbic Bank Mukono, was arrested by police officers, but she collapsed as she was being taken to Mukono Police Station to record a statement.
Police officers took her to Mukono Health Centre where they kept her under guard for more than 12 hours until she gained her consciousness.
But Kibuule, the complainant, did not even record a statement with police; instead police preferred an offence of libel against Obuku, one of their own and to date the case file has since gone.
Kibuule was also in 2016 cited in a land wrangle in Ntawo Village, Mukono District, where a mob attacked and attempted to lynch Church of Uganda bishops.
Police rescued the prelates led by former Archbishop Stanley Ntagali from an irate mob that attacked them while coming from a tour of the one square mile piece of land that belongs to the church, although several people, including Kibuule, claimed ownership of plots on the same chunk of land.
As if that was not enough, Kibuule in 2017 also got involved in another violent land eviction in Kigaya -Golomolo village that left one person identified as Dickson Wasswa Mbowa dead and several injured, plus scores others displaced from their homes.
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