Court clears businessman Kalungi of sectarianism charges

COURT | CRIME | KALUNGI

KAMPALA - Buganda Road Court cleared businessman Moses Kalungi of the charges of promoting sectarianism against the Acholi, an ethnic group in Uganda.

The charges were slapped on him last year. Grade One magistrate Gladys Kamasanyu on recently dismissed the case of sectarianism against Kalungi on grounds that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) did not consent to the charges as provided for under the law.

The charges had been preferred against Kalungi by Assistant Commissioner of Police Francis Olugu, but not consented to by the DPP, which is outside the law.

It was alleged that on August 27 last year, at the Criminal Investigations Directorate headquarters in Kibuli and Muyenga, both in Makindye division in Kampala, Kalungi uttered statements against Olugu that his time in office had ended because of fighting Baganda.

According to Olugu, the utterances were aimed at promoting hatred or contempt, feelings of ill-will against the Acholi community on account of ethnic or regional origin.

The utterances were reportedly made during Police interrogations, after his tenant reported him to the authorities for allegedly breaking into his shop and stealing items belonging to him.

Kamasanyu ruled that the charge sheet contains the word ‘sanctioned the stamp of the resident state attorney of Buganda Road Court’, but there is no clear proof that the DPP indeed consented to the charges.

She further said under the Constitution, the DPP has a duty to expressly consent to the charge for the court, accused and his attorneys to confirm that they are properly before court, failure of which means that there is no legal charge against the accused.

“The offences are struck out and the applicant is set free unless held on other lawful charges,” the magistrate read.

Kamasanyu’s ruling was prompted by preliminary objection raised by Kalungi’s lawyer, Francis Ssebowa, who objected to the prosecution of his client on charges not consented to by the DPP.

Kalungi and his son, Moses Kabuye, who are both out on bail, still face other charges of shop break-in, theft and conspiracy to commit a felony, which are coming up before the same magistrate on April 30.

Background 

Kalungi, a former Makindye division mayor, landed into trouble when he evicted a tenant, Patrick Smuts, over failure to pay rent amounting to over sh30m.

The money is said to have accumulated during the lockdown that was put in place by President Yoweri Museveni to control the spread of the coronavirus disease.

It is alleged that with the help of Kabuye, Kalungi opened Smut’s shop and impounded items, including an air conditioning machine, 23 flatscreen TVs, compressors, keys to the safe and one generator.

The Police say Kalungi evicted Smuts without a court order. However, Kalungi insists that his actions were lawful because he had a court order from the High Court after winning a case against Smuts regarding rent.

Kalungi said he would open a civil suit against the Attorney General and Olugu, seeking sh2b as compensation for malicious prosecution, which he says largely contributed to his defeat in the recent Makindye division mayoral race.