and Cyprian Musoke
THE Luweero Resident District Commissioner (RDC), Mugisha Muhwezi, has said he never told the Movement Director of Information, Ofwono Opondo, that MP Lt. James Kinobe asked for a sh4m bribe from the district Chief Administrative Officer.
“I want to categorically state that I have never talked to Ofwono Opondo about the subject. He says I am the one who told him about the alleged sh4m bribe? Never. I have never done that because up to this day, I have never talked to him – neither on phone, nor in person,†Muhwezi said emphatically.
Testifying before the rules, privileges and discipline committee, Muhwezi said he first heard about the allegations when Ofwono appeared before the presidential and foreign affairs committee and the same day when Ofwono appeared on Radio Simba, with his name as the source.
“Naturally, he was lying. This was a man saying on radio that we had discussed something, which we hadn’t and I was offended. I intend to ask him what his intentions were, after this matter is settled,†Muhwezi said.
He also denied claims by the Chief Administrative Officer, Mpiira Bigairwe, that he gave him the information which he subsequently passed over to Ofwono.
“By the last time I talked to Ofwono, I had not received any such information from the CAO,†Muhwezi said.
Bigairwe who appeared earlier, contradicted the evidence given by Ofwono last week on the sh4m bribery allegation against Movement Caucus chairman and Katikamu North MP Lt. James Kinobe.
Bigairwe said he had not talked to either Ofwono, or the RDC, Mugisha Muhwezi, by the time Ofwono made the allegations at a Makerere public lecture.
But Ofwono had said his evidence was that he (Ofwono) made the allegations at a Makerere public lecture basing on Bigairwe’s complaint, among others.
Bigairwe alleged that Kinobe, also chairman of the Local Government Accounts Committee, on October 2, 2002, asked him for a sh4m bribe to silence four vocal MPs in his committee, to forestall a probe into the queries raised by the Auditor General on the funds.
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I Did Not Speak To Ofwono, Says RDC
