Kapchorwa CAO Faces Charges

Feb 03, 2003

THE acting chief administrative officer (CAO) Kapchorwa, Martin Kamalingin, whom the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) ordered arrested and prosecuted, is alleged to have misused his office.<br>

By Yunusu Abbey
THE acting chief administrative officer (CAO) Kapchorwa, Martin Kamalingin, whom the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) ordered arrested and prosecuted, is alleged to have misused his office.
“On July 2 and 3, 2002, Kamalingin, 34, being a person employed in the public service as the acting secretary of Kapchorwa District Tender Board, did falsify the minutes of the District Tender Board meetings in abuse of the authority of his office,” read a copy of the charge sheet.
The charge sheet, which The New Vision saw, said the then acting CAO (the late John Onyait) “acted on Kamalingin’s falsified minutes to award a tender to build water springs in Kapchorwa district.”
It further states that on July 2 and 3, 2002, “Kamalingin knowingly and fraudulently uttered a false document, to wit the minutes of Kapchorwa District Tender Board purported to have been signed by all the members of the District Tender Board whereas not.”
On January 15, Mbale resident state attorney Alex Ojok, wrote to the district CID officer Kapchorwa instructing him to effect Kamalingin’s arrest and prosecution as per the DPP’s order.
“The DPP has consented to the charge of abuse of office against the accused (Kamalingin).
You are to without any further delay, arrest the accused and take him to court for plea,” said Ojok. The letter was copied to the Regional CID Officer Eastern.
Sources said the district politicians have since last week been lobbying top CID officers and the DPP to drop the charges against Kamalingin giving diverse reasons.
“But the DPP has still stuck to his guns,” said a source.
“Kapchorwa district politicians including certain MPs are reportedly contesting Kamalingin’s imminent prosecution saying, since Kapchorwa district does not have a substantive CAO following the death of Onyait, operations of the CAO’s office would be greatly paralysed once Kamalingin is arrested and charged,” said the source. Ends

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