Judge explains Kazinda's 5-year jail sentence

By Edward Anyoli & Anne Mugisa

KAMPALA - A week after convicting Geoffrey Kazinda, the disgraced former principal accountant in the Office of the Prime Minister’s (OPM), Anti-Corruption Court judge David Wangutusi on Wednesday meted out a punishment to him.

Kazinda was convicted on one count of abuse of office, 25 counts of forgery, one count of making a document without authority and two counts of unlawful possession of government stores.

The offences were committed between 2010 and 2011.Below are the reasons the judge gave for his ruling.true

The principal State Attorney, Jane Frances Abodo (right), sought a maximum sentence of seven years imprisonment for abuse of office, the maximum sentence for making documents without authority, three years for forgery and three years for illegal possession of government stores. She referred to the documents that were forged as sensitive.

The defence counsel submitted that the convict was a first offender, married with children and dependants, that no money was lost in the commission of the offences and he was repentant. He prayed that the convict be fined instead of being given custodial sentence.

Justice Wangutusi: The convict is a first offender. He is a married man and from the proceedings, it is clear that he has a sickly mother. He is also sick and cuts a repentant pose.

Court further notes that he has been on remand since October 10, 2012, which is slightly over eight months. This will be taken into account.

That not withstanding, the offence of abuse of office is committed with impunity going by the statistics of convictions in this court.

Forging a signature of a permanent secretary, who was in control of huge sums of money, most of it donor funds to alleviate the plight of disaster victims in the country, is a serious matter.

Worse still, these were applied on cash withdrawal authorisation forms and security papers, which shows that the target was the money for disaster victims. As a principal accountant, the convict was the custodian of the funds on behalf of the public.

Kazinda on Wednesday arrived at the Anti-Corruption Court in Kampala clad in a grey suit. PHOTO/Kennedy Oryema

He was, therefore, in a position of trust. This was breached by him. The manner in which he executed the crime by accumulating a heap of open-like cheques for him to fill in the amounts later is frightening. The result would be disastrous and would have left the OPM in a very embarrassing situation both in the country and internationally.

The act was prejudicial to his employer. It was committed with premeditation, with a deliberate intent to cause loss and disruption of provision of essential service to the disaster victims. These are matters that call for a prison term.

Abuse of office carries a maximum prison term of seven years. Considering three-and-a-half years as the starting point in sentencing a convict of abuse of office and finding that the aggravating circumstances outweigh the mitigating factors, I would find a six-year prison term appropriate. I reduce this by a year to cover the eight months or so he has been on remand.

In all, the accused is sentenced to a five-year prison term on count one for abuse of office.

On the same grounds taking the starting point of one-and-a-half years in imprisonment for forgery, I do, because of the premeditated commission of the offence. I have sentenced the convict to two-year prison terms on each of the counts on forgery namely 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27.

The convict is, on the same grounds, sentenced to five years in prison for a making a document without authority as charged in count 23.

On counts 28 and 29 of unlawful possession of government stores, after considering the mitigating as well as the aggravating factors and taking into account the period spent on remand, the convict is sentenced to a two-year prison term on each of the counts.

The terms shall run concurrently.

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