KAMPALA, UGANDA: The Anti-Corruption Court in Kampala has sentenced two senior officials in the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) to serve five years in prison after being convicted on two counts of corruption and abuse of office.
Mr. Robert Baryamwesiga an OPM Camp Commandant attached to Bidi Bidi refugee resettlement camp together with his co accused Mr. Fred Kiwanuka also a camp commandant were sentenced by Justice Jane Okuo, the presiding judge at the Anti Corruption court sitting in Kololo on Friday.
Mr. Baryamwesiga will serve three years for corruption and two years for abuse of office, while Mr. Kiwanuka, was handed two and a half years for Corruption and two years for abuse of office with both sentences running concurrently.
Background
In January 2020 the Inspectorate of Government Ms. Beti Kamya arrested Mr. Baryamwesiga alongside Mr. with Kiwanuka and charged them with fraud, corruption, and abuse of office on Tuesday, 14th January 2020. The two took a plea and were remanded.
State Prosecution among other charges alleged that Baryamwesigwa, between June 1st and December 1st 2017 while performing his duties as Settlement Commandant-Bidi-Bidi Refugees Camp, instructed Omia Mudasir Obiga, the Director of Jinako Engineering Works Ltd, to withdraw and deposit a total of Shs235 million from their Company Accounts in Centenary and Stanbic Banks-Arua Branch, to his Personal Account Number 9030012579364 at Stanbic Bank-Moyo Branch, prior to execution of works with Office of the’ Prime Minister (OPM) and to illicitly obtain benefits for himself.
It also alleged that Kiwanuka, between June 1st and December 2O17 while performing his duties as Settlement Commandant on a mission to Bidi Bidi, arbitrarily demanded and received back Shs129 million from the Directors of Jinako Engineering Works Ltd, as his share in part of Sh175 billion paid by Office of the Prime Minister to the company for land demarcation and allocation, an arbitrary act prejudicial to the interest of his employer and that of Jinako Engineering Works Ltd.
The pair was convicted on two counts of corruption and abuse of office amounting to Shs393,640,000 and acquitted on the count of Money Laundering.
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