Three Ugandan legislators have been charged with corruption, according to a charge sheet seen by Reuters on Saturday, as President Yoweri Museveni’s government intensifies its crackdown on rampant graft among lawmakers.
MPs Michael Mawanda Maranga, Ignatius Wamakuyu Mudimi, and Paul Akamba appeared in court late on Friday and were charged with “diversion of public resources,” the charge sheet said.
They are all members of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party.
All three pleaded not guilty and were remanded to prison.
Stealing and misuse of government funds is widespread in the East African country, and critics have long accused Museveni of ignoring corruption by top officials who are politically loyal to him.
Prosecutors accused the lawmakers of diverting about 3.4 billion Ugandan shillings ($908,605) to “purposes unrelated to that for which the resources were intended.”
Additionally, the charge sheet stated that the suspects allegedly conspired to defraud the government of Uganda.
One of their lawyers, Caleb Alaka, complained in court that the suspects’ constitutional rights had been violated.
Akamba had already been charged with corruption-related offences last week and remanded, along with two other lawmakers, for attempting to influence the UHRC chairperson to inflate the 2024/25 budget in return for 20% of the inflated amount.
