Bukenya sues government over CHOGM

By Andante Okanya  

Former vice president Prof. Gilbert Bukenya has sued Government demanding over sh104m damages, claiming he was maliciously prosecuted by the Inspector General of Government (IGG) for abuse of office and fraud in the supply of executive vehicles used during the 2007 Commonwealth Heads of Government (Chogm) summit in Kampala.

 Last year in November, the IGG dropped charges of abuse of office against Bukenya, while in December the Anti-Corruption Court acquitted him of fraud case, where he was  jointly charged with car supplier Motorcare.

Bukenya had been indicted for awarding a sh9.4b contract to Motorcare to supply 204 executive vehicles. He chaired the cabinet Chogm sub-committee which awarded the tender.

 On June 16, the ex-VP was indicted by the court over the charges. In the same year on October 3, he was subsequently committed for trial, amd spent a week on remand at Luzira Prison.

In the suit filed on Thursday at the High Court in Kampala, Bukenya is demanding sh100m legal costs. He also wants to be paid sh4m transport costs, saying he travelled 20 times, as he made a return journey to his home in Lwantama, Kakiri, Wakiso district.

The Busiro North MP claims he used sh200, 000 for transport whenever court convened. He wants a 23% interest on damages from the date of filing the case until full payment.

When dragging Prof. Bukenya to court, the then acting IGG, now deputy Raphael Baku, vehemently remarked that he was fighting graft in high Government offices.

Government's chief legal advisor and representative the Attorney General (AG) is listed as the defendant. Through Tumusiime, Kabega and Company Advocates, Bukenya claims the AG is responsible for the action of the IGG, saying he was immensely inconvenienced. He notes that he was constrained after being asked to deposit an unprecedented sh50m cash bail.

"The plaintiff was grossly inconvenienced, suffered physical and  mental torture  and unprecedented embarrassment, stress, damage of his standing and reputation in the political, social, religious and medical fraternities," the plaint states.

The plaint additionally states Bukenya received prejudiced publicity of his arrest, imprisonment, and prosecution. He says the IGG's office acted unjustifiably, which resulted in his physical illness.

The AG Peter Nyombi has been ordered to file his defence within 15 days from the date of receipt of the court summons, which is dated November 1, 2012. The court's civil division registrar Eudes Keitirima has asked the AG to comply, lest judgement is passed without his input.

The case file has been allocated to Justice Vincent Zehurikize. However, a hearing date is yet to be fixed.