Ex-NFA boss gets two years in jail
Damien Akankwasa at the Anti-Corruption Court recently. PHOTO BY ABUBAKER LUBOWA.
Kampala
The Anti-Corruption Court has sentenced former National Forestry Authority (NFA) executive director to two years in jail for abuse of office.
Damien Akankwasa was found guilty of selling 10,000 eucalyptus poles from Mwenge Forest Reserve at a half price of Shs10,000 each instead of Shs20,000 despite protests from the director of plantations.
While sentencing Akankwasa, Grade One Magistrate Susanne Okeny said the convict deserved a custodial sentence because he was in a managerial position and knew that what he was doing was not right.
She said by using a private treaty to cause the felling of 10,000 trees for electricity poles, Akankwasa disadvantaged other bidders who would have paid for the same trees at a better price.
The basis
Prosecution stated that Akankwasa committed the offence between April 7 and May 23, 2008, while he was still serving as NFA executive director without consulting the procurement and contracts committees.
He was also accused of causing government a loss of about Shs100m in the said transaction when NFA was selling similar trees in forest reserves such as Lendu in Zombo District to other buyers at Shs20,000 each.
However, court yesterday acquitted him of this charge on grounds that no evidence was produced to show that there was a fixed price set on Mwenge trees for the loss incurred which amounted to the alleged sum.
