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Three Ugandan lawmakers have been charged for corruption for their plot to influence the Ugandan Human Rights Commission (UHRC) to inflate its budget.
Despite the high rate of graft in Uganda, the prosecution of top officials, particularly those allied to President Yoweri Museveni and his National Resistance Movement (NRM) party is uncommon.
The three legislators, Mutembuli, Paul Akamba, and Cissy Namujju Dionizia, were charged with corruption late at the High Court sitting in Kampala.
The charge sheet accused the legislators of trying to influence the UHRC chairperson to inflate the organisation’s 2024/25 (July-June) budget.
In return, they allegedly sought a 20% cut of the inflated budget.
“Mutembuli, Akamba, and Dionizia … solicited an undue advantage … by asserting that they were able to exert improper influence over the decision-making of the budget committee of the Parliament of Uganda to increase the UHRC budget,” the charge sheet stated.
All three legislators pleaded not guilty and were remanded to a maximum-security prison.
Asuman Basalirwa, one of the defence lawyers, argued that the charges could not be “categorised as grave” and requested bail for the accused.
Judge Joan Aciro remanded the legislators until June 14 when a ruling on the bail application would be made.
The case came against the backdrop of President Museveni’s claim that he had received intelligence that some lawmakers were colluding with government officials to inflate departmental budgets in exchange for commissions.
