Valley Dams Suspects Freed
Jul 01, 2003
A FORMER director of animal resources in the Ministry of Agriculture and a Nigerian water engineer were yesterday acquitted of charges of failing to ensure that valley dams and tanks were constructed,
A FORMER director of animal resources in the Ministry of Agriculture and a Nigerian water engineer were yesterday acquitted of charges of failing to ensure that valley dams and tanks were constructed, writes Maurice Okore.
Dr. Thomas Charles Bamusonighe, 55, and Jide Jeremiah Fatokun, 55, were exonerated by Buganda Road Court Magistrate Charles Sserubuga after four years on trial.
Sserubuga said the State had failed to prove that the two neglected duty by failing to supervise the construction of the valley dams.
“In this circumstance, I have no alternative but to free the suspects on each of the four counts of neglect of duty,†Sserubuga said, to the delight of the suspects.
Sserubuga also said it would have been more appropriate if the valley dams case had been filed in a civil court rather than a criminal one.
Soon after the verdict was passed, the two men were surrounded by journalists, with whom they spent close to 40 minutes discussing the outcome of the case.
Fatokun praised the magistrate saying his verdict had been fairly passed.
Bamusonighe and Fatokun were arrested by the CID in 1999 and charged with neglecting duty after the multi-billion shilling project failed to take off.
The State accused them of not deploying the four key engineers who had been hired by Ms Afro Building and Electrical Contractors, a company contracted by the Government to construct the valley dams between September 1997 and September 1998.
Ends
Dr. Thomas Charles Bamusonighe, 55, and Jide Jeremiah Fatokun, 55, were exonerated by Buganda Road Court Magistrate Charles Sserubuga after four years on trial.
Sserubuga said the State had failed to prove that the two neglected duty by failing to supervise the construction of the valley dams.
“In this circumstance, I have no alternative but to free the suspects on each of the four counts of neglect of duty,†Sserubuga said, to the delight of the suspects.
Sserubuga also said it would have been more appropriate if the valley dams case had been filed in a civil court rather than a criminal one.
Soon after the verdict was passed, the two men were surrounded by journalists, with whom they spent close to 40 minutes discussing the outcome of the case.
Fatokun praised the magistrate saying his verdict had been fairly passed.
Bamusonighe and Fatokun were arrested by the CID in 1999 and charged with neglecting duty after the multi-billion shilling project failed to take off.
The State accused them of not deploying the four key engineers who had been hired by Ms Afro Building and Electrical Contractors, a company contracted by the Government to construct the valley dams between September 1997 and September 1998.
Ends