Igara East MP Michael Mawanda at the Anti-Corruption Court in Kampala recently. PHOTO/ ISAAC KASAMANI
In 2015, Mr Michael Mawanda, who had served as Igara East Member of Parliament (MP), seemed to have prematurely ended his political career.
In the National Resistance Movement (NRM), he had lost primaries to a political novice, Andrew Martial, consequently risking his political career.
The NRM primaries, as usual, were characterised by violence as supporters fought, with police intervening with tear gas and bullets to calm the situation. In rural western Uganda, there are advantages of getting the NRM ticket as it’s easy to mobilise resources, and also security agencies are unlikely to interfere with your campaigns.
The party that has been stirring Uganda since 1986 when guerrillas led by Yoweri Museveni marched onto the streets of Kampala has unchecked support in many parts of western Uganda, that winning its ticket almost guarantees one a seat in Parliament or Local Government.
That’s why when Mawanda lost the primaries to Martial, his political obituary seemed to have been drafted, even if he decided to run as independent in the subsequent 2016 elections.
Broad and sturdily built, Mawanda’s five-year term had been bumpy after reports emerged from India in 2013 that, together with former junior minister Isaac Musumba, they had been arrested over a mining deal gone bad.
Mawanda, Musumba and businessman Mathias Magoola had jetted into India in April 2013, allegedly attempting to extort $20 million from four directors of Videocon, sparking off a diplomatic row.
Claims
Indian newspaper, Mumbai Mirror, reported that Musumba, Mawanda, and Magoola had been interrogated by police and that they had been prohibited from leaving Trident Hotel.
The trio denied the allegations, with Musumba claiming had gone to India as a defence lawyer and he insisted he had never set foot near a police post in India. It was very difficult to verify the allegations, but the reports damaged Mawanda’s reputation that for the rest of the term, he was quiet and he lost to Martial in the 2016 elections. Standing as independent, Mawanda lost his Igara East seat to Martial with a difference of 892 votes.
Mawanda didn’t give up the fight. He petitioned High Court in Mbarara to nullify Martial’s victory on grounds that the electoral officers in charge of the Igara East elections were sympathetic to Martial, that he was denied declaration forms of some of the polling stations and that the Electoral Commission had used NRM and Gombolola Internal Security Officers (GISO) to run elections in his constituency.
Mawanda specifically accused Martial of bribing voters on polling day at various polling stations in Igara East.
He also accused Martial of causing the publication of a poster of his photo which, according to him, was defamatory and this he said had an effect of undermining his political career.
The High Court dismissed Mawanda’s petition, but still he took the battle to the Court of Appeal in Kampala.
The Court of Appeal criticised Mawanda for hiring lawyers who clumsily drafted the petition.
“The quality of drafting the petition is simply scandalous. Out of the 18 items listed under this head, only four items can be regarded to have substantiating affidavits which purport to set out both the fact and evidence that these items including (a), (b), (c), (d), ( e), ( f), (g), (h), (i), (J), (L), (O), (P), and ( R). It’s clear no cause of action is made out to support the same,” the Court of Appeal ruled.
In the petition, the ghosts of India were still haunting Mawanda because in a bid to prove the defamation charge he attached printouts of posters which he claimed had been published by Martial, or his agents, and read in Runyakore thus: “Hon Mawanda Police ya India Nemuronda. Ahabwe Esente Eziyayibire Omuri India.” (Hon Mawanda is wanted in India for stealing money)
Court of Appeal said indeed the poster was libellous, but the question was if Martial had a hand in publishing the same.
The Court of Appeal said evidence of Elias Mucunguzi, who testified that he had been given money by Martial to distribute the posters, had gone unchallenged by Martial.
“The person he [Martial] hired to transport the person distributing the same has provided unchallenged evidence of his retention,” the three justices said.
New political life
Mawanda was able to prove that some polling stations closed as early as 1pm before some voters could vote and tempering with voting material.
The icing on the cake was when Court of Appeal justices Frederick Egonda-Ntende, Richard Buteera and then Deputy Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo agreed with Mawanda that indeed Martial had bribed voters with Shs1.5 million.
Martial’s election was overturned, giving Mawanda yet another political lifeline.
While Mawanda has come to embody establishment politics, in which he has been one of the backers of President Museveni’s son, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba’s, presidential ambitions through a special purpose vehicle known as the Patriotic League of Uganda (PLU), in the 2017 Igara East by-elections he presented himself as an Opposition candidate.
At the time of the by-elections, the pressing political issue was the NRM’s push to amend the Constitution to allow the removal of the presidential term limits, a move that would allow Museveni to stand for presidency until he chooses to retire.
While Mawanda claimed in the heated by-elections that he opposed the lifting of age limit, Martial was hesitant.
Martial, who was protocol officer in State House until 2015, claimed using social media that he didn’t support lifting the age limit. But when Museveni visited Igara East to campaign for him, since he was still the NRM candidate, the desperate Martial changed and said he was in support of the amendment.
Mawanda, who is said to have a string of businesses in Igara, also had an edge in terms of money and was able to mount a concerted media campaign on several radio stations he owns in that part of western Uganda.
“I will begin from where I stopped last time because throughout the campaigns I found that most projects I had started have stalled,” Mawanda, who spent just one year out of Parliament, said after winning by about 51 percent of the vote.
In the 2021 General Election, Mawanda easily returned to Parliament for the third time, but his efforts have been to promote Muhoozi’s presidential project and it doesn’t come as a surprise when he was listed as one of the promoters of PLU, with others being David Kabanda (Kasambya County MP), Michael Katungi, Balaam Barugahara (minister of State for Youth and Children Affairs), Andrew Mwenda (veteran journalist), Lilian Aber (minister of State for Disaster Preparedness, Relief and Refugees) and businessman Frank Gashumba.
Though the outfit is partisan with most of its members subscribing to the NRM, Mawanda has been insistent that it’s neutral.
“We are aiming towards reviving in Uganda a spirit of good citizenship, national pride, national service, protection of vulnerable persons, combating corruption, wastage of public resources and protection of the environment,” Mawanda, who would later be appointed the outfit’s director of mobilisation, spelt out the aims of PLU.
Although he claimed that PLU was committed to fighting wastage of public resources, a parliamentary committee report implicated him with other MPs and lawyers in the alleged abuse of billions of shillings aimed at compensating cooperatives.
The sectoral Committee on Tourism, Trade and Industry claims Mawanda, who was neither a member, shareholder of West Mengo cooperative nor a partner of Mungoma Justin and Co Advocates had their payment vouchers.
More trouble
Mawanda’s troubles started when Mr Musa Bagaala, West Mengo’s accountant, informed the committee that in a bid to pursue their compensation claims they had not only hired the services of J/M Musisi but also following the advice of the Igara East MP they had hired another law firm in the name of Mungoma Justin and Co Advocates.
The committee also heard from the cooperative leadership that Mawanda had assisted the cooperative in drafting the agreement with Mungoma Justin and Co Advocates in which the lawyers would cover the costs of recovering the compensation.
On June 17, Mawanda proudly signed the censure motion championed by Lwemiyaga County MP Theodore Ssekikubo that’s targeting parliamentary commissioners, including Mathias Mpuuga (Nyendo-Mukungwe), for pocketing Shs1.7 billion as “service award”.
Mawanda said he was doing this for the good of the country since unity was needed in the fight against corruption, but a few hours later he was taken for interrogation at the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of police and he was later charged at the Anti- Corruption Court.
The charges say Mawanda together with Ignatius Wamakuyu Mudimi (Elgon County) and Paul Akamba (Busiki County) and lawyer Julius Kirya of Kirya Co Advocates and others still at large, allegedly conspired and collectively diverted billions for their personal use between 2019 and 2023.
The funds were meant for war loss compensation to Buyaka Growers Cooperative Society in Bulambuli District.
It remains to be seen if Mawanda, who survived the allegations from the scandal in India, will bounce back from the charges.
Background
Micheal Mawanda of Igara East, Ignatius Wamakuyu Mudimi of Elgon County, and Paul Akamba of Busiki County were recently arraigned before the Anti-corruption Court for allegedly diverting Shs3.4b meant for war loss compensation to Buyaka Growers Cooperative Society.
