By Witness Radio team
Mwanga II Road has charged a Kawaala community land rights defender Kasozi Paul Ssengendo and a village project-affected person Sserugo Charles with fraud and obtaining money by false pretense, and remanded them to Luzira prison.
Kasozi was first reported to have been kidnapped by unknown people on Wednesday, 15th February 2023, at around 13:00 hours local time. However, when Witness Radio’s lawyers searched for a missing person, he was found detained at Old Kampala Regional Police Headquarters. While Sserugo is alleged to have been arrested between 15:00 and 15:30 hours local time.
Both Kasozi and Sserugo are residents of Kawaala Zone II, Lubaga Division, Kampala district, an area Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) intended to forcefully evict locals and construct a drainage channel, a project funded by the Word bank.
In 2015, KCCA acquired USD 175 million in loans from the World Bank and the International Development Association (IDA) for Kampala Institution and Infrastructure Development (KIIDP) project. However, part of the money (USD 17.5 million, which is 63 billion Uganda shillings) was earmarked to construct Lubigi Primary Channel.
In June 2022, Kasozi and two other defenders were arrested by the Old Kampala police on the orders of Burora Anderson, the deputy Resident District Commissioner in charge of Lubaga Division. They were later released on police bond and have been reporting on their bonds.
Witness Radio has protested the arrest of the three community land rights defenders saying, they are being framed because of their work of mobilizing project-affected persons to resist KCCA’s illegal evictions.
While appearing before Mwanga II Grade One Magistrate His worship Magezi Amon, all the accused denied the charges and entered a plea of not guilty.
However, their case was referred to the Chief Magistrate court since the court which read the charges to them did not have jurisdiction to hear the case.
The charge of obtaining money by pretense is contrary to section 305 of the Penal Code Act and it elicits a maximum punishment of five years on conviction. While fraud has a maximum prison sentence of 3 years on conviction.The court is expected to hear their bail applications next Wednesday, the 22nd/ 02/2023 at 10:00 hours local time
