MPs Agaba, Kabafunzaki in fresh war as loan saga rages

Kitagwenda Member of Parliament Abbas Agaba has denied ever obtaining a loan from his fellow MP Herbert Kabafunzaki saying he has suffered humiliation as a result of a “fictitious litigation” that led him to pay Shs16m mid this month.

On May 15, Mr Agaba was arraigned in the Executions Division of the High Court in Kampala for failing to pay Shs16m arising from a civil suit that was decided because he never responded to the summonses.
But yesterday Mr Agaba told this publication that much as he paid the money to settle a growing conflict between him and the former State Minister for Labour, the matter was not for a loan but a motor vehicle accident that they both settled amicably.

Denying allegations
“I have never picked a loan from Kabafunzaki as alleged. It was a fictitious litigation which manifests from Shs4.7m to Shs16m. The matter was for repairing his house which my driver at the time I was Resident District Commissioner knocked. He should have instead sued the Attorney General because the car was being driven by an official government driver,” he said.
The former Serere RDC said the incident happened in 2015 at the time they were both neighbours in Kampala when the driver knocked Mr Kabafunzaki’s house.

READ

• Kitagwenda MP charged over Shs100m fraud

  

  Mr Agaba was granted bail after depositing in court Shs2 million cash

• Kitagwenda MP escapes jail over Shs16m debt

  

  Mr Agaba was arrested by bailiffs on orders of the High Court’s Execution Division Registrar, Mr Deo Ninzeyimana

• Kitagwenda MP arrested over Shs16m debt

  

  Mr Agaba was arrested after he failed to pay fellow MP Herbert Kabafunzaki the said money he acquired as a loan

At the time both neighbours were not at home.
Mr Agaba said as a result, Mr Kabafunzaki invited the police and intimidated his children before towing the car to Katwe police station.
“When I and my wife returned, I went to Kabafunzaki’s house the next morning. It was my first time to enter there. His wife is my witness to the amicable solution where Kabafunzaki accepted we repair his house but asked me to manage my drivers well,” Mr Agaba said.
The MP said it was after that agreement that he went to Katwe police station to pick up the vehicle and took it for repair. However, in 2017, Mr Agaba said, Kabafunzaki filed a case in court saying his colleague had failed to pay Shs4.7m for repair of the house damaged by his official driver as RDC then.

“I was not served and after the case was heard and decided a warrant of arrest was served through the Speaker of Parliament. I was notified and by the time media houses reported my arrest, I had reached court to settle the Shs16m,” he said.
He said the conflict between him and Kabafunzaki has damaged his reputation before fellow legislators, the electorates, friends and religious leaders who have since been sending him messages of sympathy.

RESPONSE
When contacted, Kabafunzaki denied having ever had an issue with Agaba over damaging his house, saying that his colleague is only turning the court decision into a political war.
“Why did he pay if he had not taken a loan from me? I don’t know about knocking my house,” he said.
When asked about how much was the initial loan and when the said transaction was made, Mr Kabafunzaki said: “Let’s leave that, I got my money and it was even little.”

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