Three years for Bagonza

Samson Bagonza, the former chief engineer at the Ministry of Works and Transport, was yesterday sentenced to three years in prison by a judge who said the convict’s effort at contrition was weak.

“There is no art to find the mind’s contrition in the face,” Justice John Bosco Katutsi said in a written statement. “This contrition comes about too late.” Mr Bagonza left the packed courtroom immediately after Justice Katutsi handed out a sentence tougher than his lawyer had requested: two years for abuse of office and three for causing financial loss.

Concurrent sentences
The sentences will run concurrently, meaning that Bagonza will serve three years in jail. The day before sentencing, Mr Bagonza told court he regretted what had gone wrong, casting himself as a sorry man who would now try to lead an honest life. At some point, when he tried to “assure” the judge of his contrition, Justice Katutsi cut him short: “Assure the country, not me.”

Mr Bagonza’s lawyer, MacDosman Kabega, had asked for lenience, begging the judge to caution or fine his client. “He had a reflection of what happened and is profoundly remorseful,” Mr Kabega said.
“I urge you to treat Bagonza with compassion and understanding.”
The charges against Mr Bagonza, 50, a married man with four children, stemmed from his part in shoddy road construction ahead of the 2007 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm) in Kampala.

At least Shs1.6 billion was said to have been lost as a result of his alleged impropriety, prosecutors said, asking for a tough sentence against Mr Bagonza.

On June 21, Mr Bagonza was convicted and sent to jail, becoming the first government official to take the fall over scandals related to the summit. Mr Bagonza had been accused of authorising road works, such as improvements on the tarmac between Zana and Kibuye, on Entebbe Road, without getting the approval of public procurement authorities.

‘Impunity’
“It did not require a professional engineer to know that regulations were not meant to be idle but to be followed to the letter,” Justice Katutsi said. “The type of impunity as exhibited by the convict has created grave disquiet in our country so much so that something in the nature of deterrence is called for.”

The day he convicted Mr Bagonza, Justice Katutsi made remarks that suggested he was unconvinced the man had been acting alone in the road mess that got him in trouble.

“This court is tired of trying tilapias when crocodiles are left swimming,” Justice Katutsi said. In the symbolism of Justice Katutsi’s choice, Mr Bagonza was a tilapia—small fish. But the judge was also saying: Give me the crocodiles.

Responding to a plea from Mr Kabega that his client was a first-time offender with a good public-service record, Justice Katutsi seemed unimpressed yesterday. The judge rejected references to the case of a lawmaker, Tingey MP Herbert Sabila, who was fined by the Anti-Corruption Court instead of being given a custodial sentence. Mr Sabila had been convicted of offering a Shs700,000 bribe to a corruption investigator. “In that case Sabila was dishing out his own money; here it is public money at stake,” Justice Katutsi said.

It remains to be seen what effect Mr Bagonza’s sentencing will have on corruption cases involving senior government officials, especially the Chogm-related cases that were investigated by a parliamentary committee.
The report of the Public Accounts Committee’s investigation into the abuse of Chogm money, which indicted officials such as Vice President Gilbert Bukenya and Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kutesa, is yet to be acted on.