Uganda, UK to exchange prisoners

KAMPALA - In a landmark diplomatic development, the Government has formalised a prisoner exchange arrangement with the UK, allowing convicted Ugandans currently serving sentences in British prisons to be transferred back home to complete their jail terms. 

This move was made official through a new statutory instrument Number 37 of 2025, titled The Transfer of Convicted Offenders (Application of Act to the UK. 

The statutory instrument was signed on April 3, 2025, by the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Norbert Mao, acting under powers conferred upon him by the Transfer of Convicted Offenders Act, Cap. 134. 

The instrument cites the transfer of convicted offenders to the UK and the extension of this instrument to the UK. 

Sources said the statutory instrument marks a new chapter in the enforcement of criminal justice between Uganda and the UK and opens the door for mutual consideration of prisoner transfers under agreed terms and conditions. 

Uganda Prisons Service spokesperson Frank Baine said no British citizen is currently incarcerated in Ugandan prisons as a convict. 

However, sources explained that under diplomacy, the swap can also be in the form of a favour extended to a country that has no convicted offenders to be exchanged.

The Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Norbert Mao.

Enter Justice Mugambe case

The move comes at a time when a Ugandan judge, Lydia Mugambe, 49, was in March convicted after she was found guilty in a British court of human trafficking and forced labour. 

Mugambe, who awaits sentencing on May 2, had moved to the UK to pursue a doctorate (PhD) in law at the University of Oxford. A British jury at the Oxford Crown Court convicted Mugambe on multiple charges, including facilitating illegal travel to the UK, exploiting an individual for unpaid labour and conspiring to intimidate a witness. 

Prosecution led by Caroline Haughey KC painted Mugambe as an opportunist who used her legal knowledge to manipulate the system for her personal benefit. 

During the trial, the court was told that Mugambe conspired with former Ugandan deputy high commissioner John Leonard Mugerwa to arrange for the young lady’s entry into the UK under false pretences. 

Haughey argued that Mugambe’s actions were deliberate and calculated, emphasising that she lied to authorities about the purpose of the young lady’s visit and later attempted to shield herself from scrutiny by manipulating the narrative. 

However, Mugambe’s defence team insisted that she was shocked and emotional during police questioning and had never forced anyone into unpaid labour. 

According to her legal counsel, Mugambe’s initial misstatements to police were not lies, but rather panic-driven responses to an unexpected situation. 

Under the UK’s Modern Slavery Act (2015), individuals who claim to be victims of human trafficking or forced labour can receive immediate legal protection, including temporary residency, financial support, work permits and potential citizenship pathways. 

Mugambe is due forsentencing on May 2. When contacted, the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Vincent Bagire, declined to comment on the matter and referred New Vision to the justice ministry. 

Attempts to get a comment from the justice minister (Mao) were futile. 

However, Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka said he was aware of the instrument, saying it allows the transfer of convicts from Uganda to UK and vice versa. 

Asked whether there were British convicts in Ugandan jails, Kiryowa said; “I don’t know whether we have British convicts here, but the law is not for now. It will be used whenever we want.” It is also not clear how many Ugandans are serving jail terms in UK prisons as convicts.

Prisons Service spokesperson Frank Baine

Lawyers speak out  

Although lawyers talked to said they were not aware or had not seen the instrument, they suspected that it is in relation to Mugambe’s case. City lawyer Caleb Alaka argued that although Mugambe has not yet been sentenced, the instrument provides a legal basis upon which she will be exchanged in case she is sentenced. 

He said while in UK, modern slavery is a serious criminal offence that may even attract a life sentence, but this may not be the case in Uganda. In addition, Alaka argued that: “It is easy for Justice Mugambe to be pardoned under the presidential prerogative of mercy than when she is in the UK, where the President has no jurisdiction.” 

“When she is flown to Uganda, it is the Ugandan courts to again sentence her depending on the terms of the swap. If the Ugandan courts do not register the case, then she will not be sentenced. But if the British place terms on the transfer, then she will have to serve them here. It all depends on the terms of transfer,” he said. 

Prof. Fredrick Ssempebwa also suspects that this is a legal framework being prepared in relation to Mugambe’s case in the UK. 

“The instrument is to help the imprisoned persons transferred to the country of origin in exchange with a British convict serving a sentence in Uganda. The swap has to be between convicts,” he said. 

Another lawyer, who preferred anonymity, said the law on transfer of convicted offenders was enacted in Uganda in 2014 and can apply to Commonwealth countries. 

“I don’t know why the country is just gazetting this instrument with the UK when the law has been in place for a long time. We can all suspect the person they are targeting – Justice Mugambe. The instrument creates a legal regime to enable the judge to be transferred to Uganda in case she is sentenced,” the lawyer said. 

The lawyer added; “I wonder whether it is the judge who is requesting that she comes and serves in a Uganda prison with people she has been convicting. That would surely humiliate her. So, if the Government is requesting for her transfer, then there’s a likelihood of her being pardoned.” 

Ugandans jailed in UK 

Over the years, many Ugandans in foreign countries have found themselves on the wrong side of the law. In 2024, Ugandan rugby player Philip Pariyo, 32, was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison in the UK after being found guilty of rape. 

The Cardiff Crown Court heard how Pariyo, who had sought asylum in Wales, befriended a woman before assaulting her in her flat in June 2021. In a separate case, a UK court sentenced Rose Rosalind Birungi, 49, to 12 years in prison for drug trafficking. 

Birungi, a former information minister in Toro kingdom, was arrested at Heathrow Airport in 2007 with approximately 8kg of cocaine hidden in her luggage. 

The narcotics, valued at about £400,000 (about sh1.3b), were detected by sniffer dogs and airport security personnel. In another major international corruption case, Ananias Tumukunde, 31, a government official, was convicted in 2008 by Southwark Crown Court in London for receiving bribes from a British businessman. 

Tumukunde became the first Ugandan government official to be convicted under the UK’s revamped anti-bribery laws.