Robert Ssekitoleko the National Unity Platform (NUP) legislator who represents Bamunanika Constituency is fighting to elude arrest after a section of his voters accused him of swindling funds that were contributed by voters towards the rehabilitation of the dilapidated  Zirobwe Health Center 3.

Ahmed Kasibante, the Zirobwe Town Council councillor told theGrapevine that last year, the area leadership organised a fundraising function and the Speaker of parliament Annet Anita Among was invited as the Chief Guest but she sent one of her assistants to represent her.

She promised to contribute Shs10m to the cause.

He explained that the Chief Guest told them that within one month money will be given to Ssekitoleko to deliver to the organizing committee.

He narrated that they were looking for Shs100m and Ssekitoleko personally promised to double the amount of money the people at the function will contribute.

Shs4m was contributed which meant that Sekitoleko was supposed to add Shs4m to make Shs8m.

Soria Nabachwa, the Zirobwe Central councillor who was the treasurer of the fundraising drive told theGrapevine that after the function, Ssekitoleko told her to give him all the money they had collected so that he adds his Shs4m to make Shs8m and it is banked at once as they are continue looking for more money.

She explained that she gave all the money to the legislator but it is now a year but she has not received any message on her phone showing that the legislator has banked the money.

When they call him, he does not pick their calls.

“We have received communication from the office of the speaker that Ssekitoleke picked the money. We are going to take legal action against him. We will start with reporting him to police for getting money by false pretense,” Kasibante said.

Sources close to the legislator told theGrapevine that their man is highly indebted and he sometimes spends some nights in his car in parliament parking yard to avoid moneylenders who are looking for him.

Suit shops in Wandegeya are also looking for the legislator. They allege that he picked their clothes when he had just been elected as a Member of Parliament and promised to pay them later but since then, he has refused to pick his phone calls.

Mechanics at Mulago kubbiri and Wandegeya have also chased Ssekitoleko from taking his car to their garages claiming that they are tired of fighting with him to get their money. Sometimes have to attach his car until he pays them.

One of the people close to the legislator told theGrapevine that he told them that the reason why he is not enjoying parliament is because of the curse that State Minister for Higher Education John Crysotom Muyingo placed on him.

He claims that when he defeated Muyingo in the 2021 parliamentary elections, Muyingo told his people that Ssekitoleko had betrayed and embarrassed him but he was going to pay for it the hard way.

It should be remembered that Muyingo paid for Ssekitoleko’s education from secondary school to university and he was at one time one of his personal assistants.

Sources said that in 2019, Ssekitoleko told Muyingo that he wanted him to buy for him a new posh car which he was going to use in the 2021 campaigns but Muyingo refused because he had already received rumours that he was planning to contest against him.

Ssekitoleko later contested against Muyingo on NUP ticket and defeated him very badly in the umbrella wave that swept the whole country in 2021.

Sources in the corridors of power said that if it was not for the First Lady maama Janet Kataha Museveni to fight tooth and nail to make sure that Muyingo retains his ministerial job, he was going to be like other former ministers that President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni fired when the lost their parliamentary seats.

However, when contacted, Ssekitoleko rubbished the allegation terming them as political malice targeting his personality and his political party.

By Sengooba Alirabaki

Flamboyant Lubaga South legislator Aloysius Talton Gold Mukasa is on suicide watch with money lenders breathing down his neck.

His woes escalated recently when his landlord threatened to throw him out of his house along Entebbe road over delayed rent payments.

Mukasa is among the National Unity Platform(NUP) legislators who have not enjoyed their stay in parliament and is always on the run, hiding from moneylenders to elude arrest him over none payment.

His woes started in Court where he spent millions of shillings to settle the legal battle instituted against him by his immediate political rival Princess Eugenia Nassolo who was contesting his education and accusing him of committing election offences.

Nasolo hired some of the best lawyers in Kampala who included; Caleb Alaka, Samuel Muyizi Mulindwa and Kenneth Paul Kakande who convinced her to settle the matter out of Court, where a juicy deal was reached.

This deal punched big holes in Mukasa’s pockets.

Mukasa also hired Justine Ssemuyaba another serious lawyer who he paid huge sums of money in legal fees to represent him.

It should also be noted that Mukasa was among the candidates who spent a lot of money during campaigns and sources close to him claim that he spent more than Shs5bn in campaigns including facilitating the process of winning the NUP ticket.

Sources divulged that Mukasa thought that he was going to get a lot of money in politics by cutting deals which would help him to cover the gaps in his businesses among which included FACO which is dealing in solving the problems of manhood among men, changing women’s figures and DX4.

However, news reaching our political desk shows that the landlord on the building which has been housing FACO for years in Ndeeba along Masaka road has thrown him out of his building over delayed rent payments.

Sources added that Mukasa first sold his primary school and used part of the money to pay the loans to survive money lenders who were on his neck.

Recently, he sold his Ambulance car which he bought during the campaigns to Rhino Funeral Management Company.

He also sold the vehicle truck which he bought to help his people to solve the problem of water especially at the functions and sources claim that he sold it to Muhammad Muwanga Kivumbi the Butambala County legislator at Shs53m.

Kivumbi was not interested in the track but he bought it to save his fellow legislator and he added it to his two water tracks in the constituency.

Sources said that the big problem that Mukasa currently has is to settle the landlord at home because he is going to be embarrassed if he throws him out of his house with his wife and entire family.

His competitors claim that Mukasa was among the NUP legislators who were facilitated by the State to infiltrate Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu’s camp during the 2021 general election.

theGrapevine made a number of efforts to talk to Mukasa for a comment by making several phone calls to his five known phone numbers but they were all not going through.

By Levi Yashayahu

The fight for justice for late Henry Katanga is set to expose and put top Ankole Sub Region families to a test on who holds superior powers of influencing decision making in the country as all is set for a mouthwatering legal battle.

This conclusion is drawn after Justice Jane France Abodo the Director Public Prosecution (DPP) sanctioned murder charges against Molly Katanga, widow to the deceased, her daughter Martha Katanga Nkwanzi and Patricia Kakwanza who is being charged with the offence of Destroying evidence.

The DPP also charged George Amanyire and Charles Otai, a medical doctor.

A joint team of detectives from the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI), Internal Security Organisation (ISO) and the police’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has been investigating the circumstances under which tycoon Katanga was killed inside his master bedroom at Mbuya a Kampala City suburb.

According to a police postmortem report, after police pathologists and family doctors examined Katanga’s body, they reached to a conclusion that he was killed.

The Postmortem report is part of the evidence that the DPP is set to use against the accused persons after investigations established that the deceased’s murder was intentional and the prime suspect is the wife who is still under tight security at International Hospital Kampala (IHK) Intensive Care Unit.

Since the investigation kicked off on November 2, 2023 when the deceased was murdered, detectives working on the file are yet to interact with the main suspect.

However, her lawyers of Kampala Associated Advocates (KAA) have confirmed that their client is ready to interact with the investigators.

The other suspects are currently being detained at Jinja road police station and Special Investigation Unit Kireka. They have already recorded their statements over the matter.

Highly placed sources at the DPP chambers revealed to theGrapevine that Justice Abodo has been facing a lot of pressure from different influential government and security officers who are connected to the suspects and the deceased and on two occasions, she has been referring the files back to police for further investigations to close all the gaps.

Sources added that there was no way Justice Abodo could not have sanctioned the files because whatever she instructed the investigators to do, they have been doing it.

This kind of alertness led to investigators discovering that the crime scene was tampered with after the main suspect committed the crime.

According to the Monitor News Paper, a top government official and some security bosses are involved in this battle to save their beloved with others involved because they want to ensure that the deceased gets justice.

They include: Brig. Charity Bainababo the deputy commander of the Special Forces Command (SFC) who is a cousin to the deceased; Marjorie Nyangweso a Human Resource expert and also niece to the deceased, Naomi Kashishane a security expert and sister to the deceased, Mirieli Kyobuhoro the deceased’s mother and a friend to President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, Maj. Bright Rwamirama the State Minister for Agriculture and uncle to the deceased, Col. Naboth Mwesigwa Rwabwera, Director of Protocol, Defence ministry friend to Molly, Maj. Gen. Sam Kavuma, Deputy Coordinator and former ADC to president Museveni who is a friend to Molly, Lt. Gen. James Mugira the Managing Director National Enterprises Corporation and also the deceased’s cousin, Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Katsigazi the Deputy Inspector General of police who is also the deceased’s relative.

Others are; Lt. Col. Albert Kashakamba cousin to the deceased, Lt. Col. Benon Muhinda Biteeya a cousin to the deceased and Patricia Katanga step daughter to the deceased.

According to a petition filed at the Civil Division of the High Court Kampala, lawyers from M/S Kanduho & Company Advocates led by Frank Kanduho together with Paul Kutesa’s M/S Arcadia Advocates claim that there is a clandestine move by influential officers in government to make sure that the deceased does not get justice by helping the suspect walk free.

Two powerful law firms representing Barnabas Bwaniaga Taremwa, a close friend to the deceased, want Court to establish a committee of experts to investigate the cause of his friend’s death.

However, to protect their rights, Molly and her daughters have also hired President Museveni’s longtime lawyers of the Kampala Associated Advocates(KAA) to head the fight for their rights.

It should be remembered that when the former Inspector General of police Gen. Edward Kale Kayihura was arrested on charges related to treason, he also hired the same law firm and was saved.

The same law firm also saved controversial city businessman Matthew Kanyamunyu who was charged with the murder of Kenneth Akena, a social worker. Senior counsel Peter Kabatsi and John Jet Tumwebaze led the negotiation to convince the DPP to accept their pre-bargaining prayer.

They further convinced the trial judge Stephen Mubiru to accept the five years sentence which they had agreed upon with the DPP even though there was overwhelming evidence which would have sent Kanyamunyu on death penalty.

KAA lawyers further saved Kanyamunyu’s girlfriend Cythia Munwangari who was also charged with offences related to murder. The charges were dropped immediately when KAA took over the matter from lawyers Caleb Alaka and Evans Ochieng.

It is very likely that Molly’s team hired KAA Advocates to use their influence and legal expertise to make sure that their people don’t die in prison.

Sources also revealed to theGrapevine that Molly has also hired Macdusman Kabega commonly nicknamed as the ‘devil’s advocate’ of Tumusiime Kabega & Company Advocates.

Kabega has saved a number of prominent personalities.

They include: the late Dr Aggrey Kiyingi Ssebowa who was facing murder charges after state alged that he masterminded the murder of his wife Robinah Kiyingi.

Dr. Kiyingi was acquitted.

Kabega also saved Sarah Nabikolo Ssebunya who was acquitted after State failed to convince court that she was behind murder of her husband Eria Bugembe Ssebunya alias Kasiwukira.

If the trial of Molly and her daughters kicks off, they are likely to face off with DPP’s top legal brains who include Thomas Jatiko with the help from a team of lawyers from the DPP on behalf of the deceased friends.

By Sengooba Alirabaki