The trial of Ibanda district chief administrative officer (CAO) Matsiko Mutungwire and natural resource officer Tom Nuwagira over abuse of office in relation to the giveaway of a forest reserve is slated to start today, April 3, 2024.

Jane Okuo Kajuga of the Nakasero-based Anti-Corruption Court is expected to hear the case in which Mutungwire and Nuwagira are facing charges of abuse of office contrary to Section 11(1) of the Anti-Corruption Act, 2009 as amended.

Prosecution claims that Mutungwire and Nuwagira, while employed as Ibanda- CAO and Natural Resource Officer respectively, abused their positions.

They are accused of irregularly entering into a memorandum of understanding with the Rukokoma Mixed Farmers’ Co-operative Society, exchanging part of the Ibanda Forest Reserve for alternative land.

The prosecution led Safina Bireke at the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) purports that the accused agreed to give away 10 hectares of the forest reserve land. It is further alleged that in June 2008, Mutungwire and others still at large arbitrarily entered into the memorandum without obtaining permission to allocate part of the forest land. The accused persons denied the charges and they are out on bail.

Meanwhile, on February 20, 2024, Justice Kajuga ruled that Ibanda town council councillor Francis Bamya, who had been charged alongside Mutungwire and Nuwagira, cannot stand trial due to mental instability. The ruling followed a medical report authored by Dr Leticia Kyohangirwe from Butabika Hospital. The court subsequently discharged him from the trial.

What the law says

Under Section 11(1) of the Anti-Corruption Court Act, a person found guilty of the offence of abuse of office faces up to seven years' imprisonment upon conviction, a fine not exceeding shillings 1.3 million or both