By Witness Radio team
Mwanga II Court has charged land defender Kabugo Michael with Conspiracy and obtaining money by pretense and remanded him to Luzira Prison. Kabugo is the second community land rights defender from Kawaala Zone II, in Rubaga division Kampala district to be prosecuted for such offenses after Kasozi Paul Ssengendo.
Kabugo was arrested on the 18th of February 2023 in the wee hours of Saturday Morning, at 5:00 am by armed police in Nabweru village, Nansana Town Council, Wakiso district.
The defender is a resident of Kawaala Zone II and has been at the forefront since 2020 of mobilizing his community against forced eviction by the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) to construct a drainage channel with financing from the World Bank.
KCCA acquired a loan of USD 175 from the World Bank and the International Development Association (IDA) in 2015 for the second Kampala Institution and Infrastructure Development (KIIDP-2) project. However, part of the money (USD 17.5 million, which is 63 billion Uganda shillings) was approved to construct the Lubigi Drainage Channel.
The work of mobilizing communities to protest forced eviction has attracted retaliation from project implementers and its agents. This is the third time Kabugo Micheal and other Kawaala community land rights defenders from Kawaala to be arbitrarily arrested and detained.
While appearing before the Grade one magistrate, the defender denied all the charges and pleaded not guilty.
The legal defense team applied for bail application for the defender but got rejected by Mwanga II Grade One Magistrate Magezi Amon that his court had no jurisdiction over the matter.
He referred the case to the Chief Magistrate Court.
According to section 309 of the penal code Act, the charge of conspiracy takes three (3) years imprisonment on conviction while the maximum sentence of obtaining money by pretense, contrary to section 305 of the Penal Code Act, is the punishment of five years imprisonment on conviction.
The defender will re-appear before the court for his bail application hearing
