Brig. Ondoga's wife upset by continued trial delays
Oct 29, 2014
The wife of the embattled Brig. Michael Ondoga says her husband is being affected by the continued adjournments of his trial.
By Andrew Ssenyonga
KAMPALA - Lucy Ondoga, the wife of the embattled Brig. Michael Ondoga who allegedly mismanaged logistics in Somalia, was on Tuesday exasperated by the General Court Martial after her husband’s trial flopped again because of quorum.
The upset woman said her husband was affected by the continued adjournments of his trial, adding that he was ageing in the cells.
“This court has continued to torment my husband for no reason. The man has no case to answer. That’s why the prosecution has kept on adjourning the case,” she said.
Her comments came after court adjourned her husband’s case to November 12.
She said she has 18 children including the orphans that her husband was taking care of and that she is stuck with them in his absence.
“The children and I have equally become prisoners; we are prisoners at home. Food is difficult to come by and now school fees have been blocked since government blocked my husband’s accounts,” explained Lucy.
She appealed to the Court Martial chairman to expedite the trial of her husband, arguing that if he is innocent, he should then be set free.
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Brig. Ondoga chats with his lawyer Frank Kanduho as his wife looks on at the court in September. PHOTO/Abu Mwesigwa
Brig. Ondoga chats with his lawyer Frank Kanduho as his wife looks on at the court in September. PHOTO/Abu Mwesigwa
This was the fourth time the army court was adjourning Brig. Ondoga’s case due to lack of quorum.
Brig. Ondoga, the former commander of the Ugandan troop contingent serving under the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), is being accused of mismanaging logistics.
The prosecution led by Capt. Fredrick Kangwamu told court chaired by Maj Gen. Levi Karuhanga that they could not continue with the trial because of a technical hitch, saying “the court is not fully constituted”.
The court, he said, was supposed to have eight members including the chairman but this time round it had one less which deters the trial of an offence of a capital nature.
Ondoga faces service offences that reportedly resulted into loss of lives and army equipment, diversion of fuel, loss of troop morale and feeding soldiers on food rations and consumption of dirty water in war-torn Somalia.