MPs Asked For 20 % of UHRC Budget, Wangadya Testifies

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 around May 2024, she appeared before the Committee of Parliament chaired by   Robina Rwakoojo, and that Yusuf Mutembuli was the Vice Chairperson. The meeting was attended by other members of parliament whom Wangadya doesn't remember.   She alleges that after the meeting, Yusuf Mutembuli followed her and promised to lead her to someone who would help resolve the commission's problems. Wangadya told the court that she did not know whether MP, Fox Odoi attended the committee but he approached her outside saying, he would lead her.     

Fox Odoi-Oywelowo, is a lawyer and West Budama North MP. He previously worked in the President’s office. 

According to Wangadya, Fox Odoi left her with Yusuf Mutembuli. She further stated that 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.  

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, but Mutembuli insisted that she should call her Accounting Officer who would probably understand it better.      

It's Wangadya's testimony that 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 Mutembuli later met him on a Saturday at Parliament.   She said she was later taken to someone with whom she shared UHRC financial problems.   

Wangadya said the person they met told her she needed to know what they do 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 allegedly 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 Mutembuli saying they should meet him and his colleagues at Hotel Africana.     

The Court has further heard that when 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 said she had instructions from the President that she should use that recorder.  

Wangadya said Major Agaba showed her how to use the recording device, which was a pen recorder, and after learning how to operate it, she left to meet Mutembuli and the group.    

Wangadya narrated that she found Mutembuli and Paul Akamba and they waited for Cissy Namujju, the Lwengo Woman MP to arrive because she had been told that she was very vital. 

Wangadya said Namujju arrived and was introduced to her by Mutembuli. 

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 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, Namujju, Mutembuli and 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 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, Namujju left but Mutembuli and Akamba remained.  She was told that Namujju was very powerful and could reach everyone in the country including the President. 

The court heard that after the Africana meeting, she handed over the recording device to Major Agaba. 

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 suspects' lawyers protested. They said she was not an expert on recorded voices, and they were not sure if the voices were for their clients.

High Court Justice Lawrence Gidudu adjourned the MPs case to 2:30 pm for a hearing of their respective bail applications.