I am being persecuted - Mike Mukula
FORMER State Minister of Health, Capt. Mike Mukula, said he is being persecuted for crimes he did not commit. Speaking on phone shortly after his arrest yesterday, he repeated that he only acted as a conduit for funds to be transferred to the First Lady’s office.
By Felix Osike
FORMER State Minister of Health, Capt. Mike Mukula, said he is being persecuted for crimes he did not commit. Speaking on phone shortly after his arrest yesterday, he repeated that he only acted as a conduit for funds to be transferred to the First Lady’s office.
“There is no fairness in this case. This is just persecution. It is quite clear in the IGG report that I requested the money for higher authorities. I did not misappropriate the money,†he asserted.
“The assumption is that I abused office. But I even threatened to resign my ministerial job. That is why I refunded sh210m. If I had not refunded the money, what would have happened to it?†he asked.
Mukula was arrested at 7:45am at his Bugolobi residence by a combined force of Police and military personnel and whisked to the Criminal Investigations Department for interrogation. He said the road to his residence was blocked and he was allowed to drive to the CID headquarters with his wife under heavy escort.†I didn’t even have breakfast,†he complained.
The former state minister is accused of abuse of office. According to the IGG report, on February 17, 2005 Mukula requested for sh263m for health advocacy programmes in Acholi Inn in Gulu, Mt. Elgon Hotel in Mbale and Luweero for the First Lady Safe Motherhood workshops. Two of the workshops did not take place.
The cashier of the health ministry, Margaret Birabwa, testified that she was instructed to release the entire sum to Muhwezi, and not Mukula who had requisitioned for it.
“The Hon. Minister of Health, Hon Jim Muhwezi, has directed me to release to him sh263,855,000 earlier requested by the Minister of state for General duties,†was written in a memo she received from the then under-secretary in the health ministry, Albert Mugumya.
According to the report, Muhwezi kept sh210m and later passed on only sh54m to the office of the First Lady. “Muhwezi and Mukula were acting in concert and they both used the Office of the First Lady to obtain the sum of sh263,855,000 from the GAVI funds with a fraudulent intentâ€, the IGG stated.
In a reaction, contained in the report, the First Lady said she was surprised sh263m had been requisitioned for her programmes.
Mukula admitted the workshops, which were meant for Gulu and Mbale, did not take place and he therefore refunded sh210m to the Permanent Secretary on October 28, 2005, almost eight months later.
FORMER State Minister of Health, Capt. Mike Mukula, said he is being persecuted for crimes he did not commit. Speaking on phone shortly after his arrest yesterday, he repeated that he only acted as a conduit for funds to be transferred to the First Lady’s office.
“There is no fairness in this case. This is just persecution. It is quite clear in the IGG report that I requested the money for higher authorities. I did not misappropriate the money,†he asserted.
“The assumption is that I abused office. But I even threatened to resign my ministerial job. That is why I refunded sh210m. If I had not refunded the money, what would have happened to it?†he asked.
Mukula was arrested at 7:45am at his Bugolobi residence by a combined force of Police and military personnel and whisked to the Criminal Investigations Department for interrogation. He said the road to his residence was blocked and he was allowed to drive to the CID headquarters with his wife under heavy escort.†I didn’t even have breakfast,†he complained.
The former state minister is accused of abuse of office. According to the IGG report, on February 17, 2005 Mukula requested for sh263m for health advocacy programmes in Acholi Inn in Gulu, Mt. Elgon Hotel in Mbale and Luweero for the First Lady Safe Motherhood workshops. Two of the workshops did not take place.
The cashier of the health ministry, Margaret Birabwa, testified that she was instructed to release the entire sum to Muhwezi, and not Mukula who had requisitioned for it.
“The Hon. Minister of Health, Hon Jim Muhwezi, has directed me to release to him sh263,855,000 earlier requested by the Minister of state for General duties,†was written in a memo she received from the then under-secretary in the health ministry, Albert Mugumya.
According to the report, Muhwezi kept sh210m and later passed on only sh54m to the office of the First Lady. “Muhwezi and Mukula were acting in concert and they both used the Office of the First Lady to obtain the sum of sh263,855,000 from the GAVI funds with a fraudulent intentâ€, the IGG stated.
In a reaction, contained in the report, the First Lady said she was surprised sh263m had been requisitioned for her programmes.
Mukula admitted the workshops, which were meant for Gulu and Mbale, did not take place and he therefore refunded sh210m to the Permanent Secretary on October 28, 2005, almost eight months later.