MP Rukaari released, speaks about his arrest
Robert Mwesigwa Rukaari, Mbarara City North MP. PHOTO/FILE
What you need to know:
- On Saturday, Justice Minister Norbert Mao condemned the arrest and detention of Mr Rukaari, saying his committal was merely intended to humiliate him.
Mbarara City North MP Robert Mwesigwa Rukaari has been released from Luzira civil prison after spending four days, following his committal by the registrar of the Commercial Court last week.
The legislator, also the NRM party national chairman for the Entrepreneurs League, was released at the weekend after he paid Shs300 million of a business debt of Shs702 million.
This came after the court issued an arrest warrant on November 17, 2022 over his failure to pay the debt.
“In the business world, borrowing and lending is a day-to-day activity. But any form of unethical means whether to extort or to implement procedures in an illegal manner must and shall stop with this miscarriage of justice,” the MP said by telephone last evening.
Narrating his ordeal, the legislator said his woes started last Wednesday when his business partner who had lent him Shs1.3 billion, called him to his office. He had an outstanding balance of Shs702m.
He said he did not find the businessman at his office. But when he was leaving his office, he met court bailiffs who asked him to go along with him to the Commercial Division of the High Court.
“I didn’t resist and I followed the court bailiffs. I didn’t call my lawyer, I just went to court. On reaching court, the assistant registrar had already committed me to prison,” he narrated.
When asked how he got out of prison, the MP said the creditor reached out to him in prison at the weekend after he paid Shs300 million and promised to clear the balance of Shs402m in the next three months.
On Saturday, Justice Minister Norbert Mao condemned the arrest and detention of Mr Rukaari, saying his committal was merely intended to humiliate him.
“This was absolutely unnecessary. The same money lender has Rukaari’s land title of property worth billions and a duly signed transfer form. So if it was about recovering the money, all he would have done was to sell the property,” Mr Mao said at a church fundraising event in Mbarara at the weekend.
Mr Mao said the government owes MP Rukaari more than Shs40b for various undertakings.
“The papers for this money owed to Rukaari are with us (government) and it is only the Ministry of Finance holding his money,” Mr Mao said.
