The mighty Grapevine has exclusively learnt that very soon, some top city lawyers are likely to face arrest over Kampala District Land Board chairperson David Balondemu’s alleged forged medical letters.

Highly placed sources at police’s Directorate of Criminal Investigation(CID) have revealed that last week, Jackson Tweheyo on behalf of Maj. Dr. Tom Magambo the CID Director summoned lawyers Caleb Alaka, Evans Ochieng, Hassan Kamba, Fred Mukasa Mbidde, Robert Bautu to appear before the State House Anti-Corruption Unity to record statements on allegation of forging a medical letter.

The lawyers were supposed to appear before the Department of Economic Fraud and Anti-Corruption on 28^th of November 2023 but they all snubbed the summons.

However, when contacted, lawyer Alaka rubbished the allegation of face arrest explaining that he personally hasn’t yet been summoned but his friend Bautu told him that he was summoned to appear before State House Anti-Corruption Unit.

Counsel Alaka, a Criminal law giant explained that the State House Anti-Corruption Unit under the command of Brig. Gen. Henry Isoke doesn’t have powers to summon a lawyer on grounds of offences committed by his client.

“They are not serious, Advocates are Officers of Court. We are just helping court to deliver justice. For us we just represent clients. They are the ones who give us documents including local council letters. So, we are not the ones authorising those documents,” Alaka noted.

theGrapevine has learnt that lawyer Bautu wrote to State House Anti-Corruption Department explaining why they will not appear to record the said statements.

He noted that they have the privilege to present the documents given to them by their client to a judicial officer and thus are not answerable for those documents.

Buganda Road State Attorney Ivan Kyazze brought to the attention of the presiding magistrate in Balondemu’s bail application Winnie Nankya that the accused person with the help of his lawyers forged medical letters from Kampala Hospital.

He presented the affidavit of Dr. Peter Kibuka the Kampala Hospital Chief Executive Officer denying the said letter noting that it was not authored from his hospital.

The letter presented by lawyers indicated that Balondemu, who is battling multibillion fraud cases was supposed to have a surgical operations in the very week the application came before the magistrate.

Highly placed sources at State House Anti-Corruption Unit told theGrapevine that the detectives were set to arrest the said lawyers last week but all of them run into hiding.

The said lawyers were added on the list of over 50 city lawyers who are under investigation on allegations of abetting fraud and corruption.

Among the lawyers who is set to be arrested before Christmas is one working with Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) who issued a bribe of Shs70m to a top politician at City Hall to be given a juicy job.

State alleges that Balondemu, Erick Geoffrey Mkwe, Joseph Ibona  together with others still at large fraudulently obtain Shs2.2bn from the American company KG Unlimited under the guise of awarding them a contract of supplying agricultural drone sprayers and fertilizers in the Ministry of Agriculture.

Sources at the State House Anti-Corruption Unit said that Balodemu has two already sanctioned criminal files by Justice Jane Frances Abodo the Director Public Prosecution and 15 other files have not yet been sanctioned even though investigations are done.

By Sengooba Alirabaki

Rwizi Region Police detectives have kicked off investigations into the matter involving two men netted at Mbarara Referral Hospital on accusations of stealing the corpses from the hospital.

The accused who include Robert Mucunguzi, an employee at Urban Funeral Services and Andrew Ainomugisha of Miles Funeral Services were arrested at Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital yesterday morning.

Currently held at Mbarara Central Police, we have established that they were nabbed by the hospital security team in the process of coercing clients who lose their loved ones to take them to their funeral homes.

Halson Kagure, the Head of Communication and Public Relations at Mbarara Referral Hospital said that they have heard about cases of bodies leaving the ward without passing through the mortuary which he says is outside normal procedures.

According to Kagure, the duo was apprehended by the hospital security team which was recently tasked by the Hospital Director Dr. Celestine Barigye to investigate the matter to its logical conclusion.

Recently, Dr. Celestine Barigye who also doubles as the Director of Health Services in the region was attending one of the talk shows where he expressed dissatisfaction on the persons who are charged upon losing their dear ones.

The no-nonsense Barigye is said to have threatened to fire his employees working in Pathology Department should the vice continue. But, in their defense, they blamed it on private funeral homes which deploy agents to decamping mortuary services yet MRRH is one of few hospitals with functional mortuary.

Suspects being taken to Mbarara Central Police

So, when the accused persons were arrested, Dr. Barigye is said to have directed the Hospital Public Relations Officer (PRO) Halson Kagure and Senior Hospital Administrator (SHA) Francis Ojom to handle the matter.

Mr. Ojom Francis accused the owners of Funeral homes of soiling the name of the hospital by saying that mortuary services are paid for.

According to Ojom, mortuary services are free of charge and in fact suspects admitted to being used to force relatives to ditch the mortuary and go to funeral homes.

That their pay masters give them a commission worth Shs.200,000  per body.

Halson Kagure says that these people go ahead deceiving the members of the public that mortuary services are charged Shs.500,000 which he says is false.

Furthermore, according to Kagure, every patient who dies within the facility is supposed to be recorded.

Kagure explains that when a person dies in the ward, a medical certificate of cause of death is supposed to be issued out by medical personnel and then the body is prepared by the last office in a dignified manner prior to being sent to the mortuary.

Dr. Raymond Atwine the Head of Pathology Department at Mbarara says that in the mortuary, the body is treated, recorded and then postmortem is performed in case the relative or the state requests.

Kagure adds that when all processes are done, the gate pass is processed and issued out to the relatives to the deceased as an indication that it is allowed to be transferred from one place to another.

A medical certificate of cause of death is supposed to be taken to the Medical Records Department (MRD) which a Medical Records Officer bases on to issue out a short death notification, a prerequisite to get a death certificate from NIRA.

It should however be noted that there are some people who die of infectious diseases that need special treatment in a separate mortuary.

But, these agents not only violate guidelines put in place to handle the dead but may also risk lives of the surrounding people.

The suspects have been taken to police and according to Samson Kasasira, the Rwizi Region Police Spokesman the general enquiry file has been opened.

Kasasira warned owners of funeral homes on bending the right procedures of accessing bodies from the hospital adding that detectives will extract vital information to help them apprehend whoever has been involved in this vice.

By Grapevine Correspondents

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