UPC party criticises DPP over letting Kabakumba off the hook
Mr Bbosa (L) and the UPC party spokesperson, Mr Okello Lucima, address a press conference at Uganda House in Kampala yesterday. PHOTO BY ABUBAKER LUBOWA.
What you need to know:
Ms Jane Akuo Kajuga, the DPP’s public relations officer, says their office needed cogent evidence implicating the former minister to the fraud.
KAMPALA
Uganda Peoples Congress has accused the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Richard Butera, of succumbing to pressure in dropping criminal charges against a former minister for the Presidency. Ms Kabakumba Masiko was until Tuesday facing prosecution in a case that involved the misuse of Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC) equipments.
The DPP, however, withdrew the criminal charges and recommended that the aggrieved parties are free to pursue the matter in civil court. UPC vice president Joseph Bbosa told a weekly press conference at the party headquarters in Kampala yesterday that whereas the DPP sanctioned the charges against Ms Kabakumba, the same DPP was encouraged by unnamed individuals within the National Resistance Movement (NRM) government to let her free.
Why Kabakumba?
“How many opposition politicians are facing non-existent charges and how many have been let of the hook? How could the DPP drop the charges against her and then incriminate a mere manager at her radio station when she was the overall boss. It is not surprising because this is the practice of NRM since its parliamentary caucus has let off ministers in corruption scandals,” Mr Bbosa said.
The DPP decided not to pursue charges against Ms Kabakumba over a UBC transmitter that was recovered from her Masindi-based radio station, Kings Broadcasting Service (KBS), late last year. However, the DPP advised the aggrieved party, UBC, to institute civil proceedings against the former minister and management of her radio station.
Ms Kabakumba served as minister for Information and National Guidance when the alleged theft of several pieces of equipment from the national broadcaster’s installations in Masindi. Mr Bbosa said the DPP ought to have known that by the mere fact that she was a minister in-charge of the sector at that time, Ms Kabakumba had responsibilities of supervision and therefore, letting her off the hook was intentional.
Reminder
He likened this to the incident where two people were charged for murder and sentenced to death but then one person was hanged while the other was pardoned. “Letting off Kabakumba reminds us of back in day when both Chris Rwakasisi and Ali Ssebirumbi were both charged for murder and sentenced to hang. Whereas Ssebirumbi was executed, Rwakasisi was to be pardoned 20 years later and is now a senior presidential advisor on security. This tells the whole story of how that office functions.”
Mr Rwakasisi was the minister for security and Ssebirumbi was the UPC chairman for Luweero District in the Obote II government. However, in response to the criticism, Mr Butera yesterday said the findings by his office did not indicate anywhere that Ms Kabakumba had personally been involved in the use of UBC facilities by her radio station.
He also challenged the opposition to produce evidence that suggested that he was being used to cook-up cases against them.
“Kabakumba’s file was here, we looked through and there was no evidence to hold her personally liable. Criminal cases depend on individual involvement and that is why we dismissed it,” Mr Butera said.
“However, we have advised those concerned to hold those institutions that were found using UBC properties liable and this could explain why we didn’t initiate a case against the BBC because there was no person to be held responsible but as an institution, BBC has was found using UBC facilities and should be held liable,” the DPP added.
