Court orders retrial of State House sh660m theft suspects

By Pascal Kwesiga      

Six UPDF soldiers attached to the Special Forces Group (SFG) convicted of stealing over sh660m from Nakasero State House in Kampala should be retried, court has ordered.

The Court Martial has ordered that Pt. David Nuwagira, Charles Kimuli, Gideon Tumuhimbise, Moses Muhangi, Mark Betunga and Daniel Okello should be retried by the Court Martial division at the army headquarters in Bombo immediately.

The soldiers were convicted over the theft of the money from Okello House complex at Nakasero State House October last year by the SFG disciplinary unit.

Nuwagira, Kimuli, Tumuhimbise, Muhangi and Okello pleaded guilty to the charges of theft, failure to execute their duties, prejudicial conduct to good order and discipline of the UPDF act and failure to protect war materials before the SFG unit in November.

The SFG disciplinary unit sentenced them to ten years for failure to execute their duties, eight years for failure to protect war materials, eight years for theft and two years for prejudicial conduct to good order and discipline of the UPDF Act.

The soldiers who were also dismissed from the army with disgrace were supposed to serve the sentences consecutively. However they appealed against the sentences in the army court.

Court presided over by Brig. Charles Angina in Makindye ruled recently that the SFG disciplinary unit did not convict the suspects because it lacked powers to hear a capital offense.

It also ruled that the unit committed a constitutional blunder to try the suspects without legal representation.

The court agreed with the lawyer representing the suspects, Bruce Kyerere that no trial took place and quashed the proceedings of the SFG unit.

Kyerere argued that the unit should not have even entertained the matter because it lacks constitutional powers to handle such an offence.

He cited sections of the UPDF Act that bar the army disciplinary units from hearing offences of capital nature.

Kyerere who was arguing the application of the suspects said the SFG disciplinary unit committed a grave constitutional mistake when it exercised jurisdiction that was not bestowed on it by law.

“This is a capital offence that even fetches a death sentence. This means my clients narrowly survived being sentenced to death by a simple disciplinary unit,” he said.

He stated that the confessions were obtained from suspects by torture and asked court to disregard the arguments of state prosecutor, Capt. Fred Kangwamu who sought to have the decision of the SFG unit upheld.

Kangwamu has asked court to disregard Kyerere’s submissions, saying he had wasted court’s time when he refused to file a memorandum of appeal and later tried to smuggle it into the notice of appeal that was already in court.