Former MP Kipoi turns witch doctor, arrested
Accused. Tony Nsubuga Kipoi
What you need to know:
- Obtained. The amount of money that the former legislator is said to have obtained by false pretense in Botswana.
- In February 2014, Parliament threw him out of the house after he skipped 15 sittings without a justifiable reason. The same month the treason charges were transferred to the General Court Martial, which has since issued a warrant for his arrest.
Former Bubulo West Member of Parliament, Mr Tony Nsubuga Kipoi, is set to appear at Broadhurst Court in the Botswana’s capital, Gaborone, today for mention of a case in which he is charged with four counts of obtaining money by false pretense.
Mr Kipoi who was arrested in the first week of February is accused of having gone around the city masquerading as a witch doctor and defrauding four female victims of more than 290,000 Pula, about (Shs111.6m), between May 2017 and January 20, this year.
The former legislator who jumped bail and fled Uganda while awaiting prosecution for several cases, including treason and theft, is said to have claimed to possess magical powers to multiply money and cast spells for people to get marriage partners and jobs.
He is wanted by the General Court Martial in Uganda to stand trial for treason.
Prosecution told court in Botswana that Mr Kipoi had lied to his unsuspecting victims that the power to multiply one’s money could only be got from special wallets that only he, could provide.
Botswana’s The Voice newspaper reported in its Friday, February 23, edition that court presided over by Magistrate Gaseitsiwe Tonoki had heard that Kipoi committed the alleged crimes between last May and January 20.
On the first count, Kipoi was accused of having obtained 109,000 Pula (Shs42m) from a nurse, Silvia Nonofo Mmutlwane, promising to cast a spell to ensure that she would get married.
He is on the second count accused of selling a ‘magic wallet’ to one Thabea Kebalese Modisapoo at a cost of 3,000 Pula (Shs1.2m).
Modisapoo had been hoodwinked to believing that the wallet was equipped with some special power that could cause money put in it to multiply.
The newspaper also reported that Mr Kipoi had in May 2017 deceitfully obtained 175,000 Pula (Shs67m) from one Boitshoko Moloi, claiming he would cast a spell to multiply his money.
On the fourth and final count, he is accused of having taken on February 1, 7,000 Pula (Shs2.7m) from Tshepo Mogomotsi on claims that he would deploy magical powers for him to promptly find employment.
Botswana journalist Portia Mlilo, told Daily Monitor by telephone that there might be other counts against the former MP.
Mlilo said it was for that reason that state prosecutor, Mogakolodi Pakati, pleaded with court not to grant Mr Kipoi bail when he appeared last week.
Under the Penal Code Act of Botswana, a person found guilty of either false pretense or obtaining anything by false pretense is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding seven years.
This is not the first time that Mr Kipoi is courting controversy. He was arrested by Ugandan authorities in December 2012 and charged with treason. The charges were based on allegations that he had been recruiting young Ugandans and Congolese as rebels in a plot to depose President Museveni.
In June 2013, he was again arrested for alleged car theft. He later fled to the Democratic Republic of Congo, where he went into hibernation following failed attempts to have him extradited, only to surface as a practicing witch doctor in Botswana.
In February 2014, Parliament threw him out of the house after he skipped 15 sittings without a justifiable reason. The same month the treason charges were transferred to the General Court Martial, which has since issued a warrant for his arrest.
