A retired deputy town clerk of Jinja Municipal Council has been charged with abuse of office.

Jofram Waidhuuba, 63, on October 27, 2023, appeared at the Anti-Corruption Court in Nakasero, Kampala, before magistrate Esther Asiimwe, and was charged with issuing transfer forms in order to allocate Jinja Municipal Council land. He was charged under section 11(1) of the Anti-Corruption Act.

It is alleged that Waidhuuba, while employed as the deputy town clerk, abused his office when he irregularly signed and issued transfer forms to God Will Agencies Limited.

The Prosecution, led by the chief state attorney at the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution (ODPP), alleges that Waidhuuba, in 2018, transferred a piece of land comprised in LRV JJA 453, Falio 6 plot M23 at Aniyali Amanyi road II, property of Jinja Municipal Council without authorization.

He denied the charge and was freed on cash bail of sh2 million, and his two sureties were bonded at a non-cash of sh25 million.

Court also summoned Waidhuuba’s co-accused, Isaac Tusiime, to appear in court on November 30, 2023, to answer charges of fraudulent procurement of a certification of title.

It is alleged that Tusiime, between 2018 and 2022, at different places in Jinja district as the director of M/S God Will Agencies Limited, fraudulently procured a certificate of title in favour of God Will Agencies Limited for the land comprised in LRV JJA 453, Falio 6 plot M23 at Aniyali Amanyi road II, property of Jinja Municipal Council.

What the law says

Any person convicted under section 11(1) of the Anti-Corruption Act is liable to seven years in jail or a fine not exceeding shilling 5.3 million or both.

A person found guilty under section 190(1) fraudulent procurement of a certificate of title is liable to imprisonment for a period not exceeding three years or to a fine or to both.