By Our Reporter
Igara East MP Michael Mawanda was on Wednesday evening detained at Nateete Police Station two days after he was summoned over alleged mismanagement of UGX 164 billion of cooperatives money.
At around 6:30pm, Mawanda was driven in a police van and escorted by heavily-armed counter-terrorism personnel to Nateete Police Station.
The hand-cuffed lawmaker was led by police to a detention centre where he spent the night.
Mawanda, who is also the People’s League of Uganda (PLU) disciplinary head, faces charges of alleged theft, corruption and intentions to defraud Buyaka Growers Cooperative of funds disbursed by the government.
Mawanda was allegedly involved in the West Mengo Growers Cooperative Society.
The cooperative union had decided to engage JM Musisi and Co. Advocates to claim over Shs 14bn from the Ministry of Trade in compensation for losses suffered by its members in Uganda’s past civil wars.
However, Mawanda, who was not a shareholder in the cooperative union, guided the SACCO to engage the services of a city law firm known as M/S Justin Mungoma and Co. Advocates in pursuing the claims.
The Ministry of Trade released Shs 2bn for the SACCO through the law firm recommended by Mawanda.
Interestingly, only Shs 50m reached the intended beneficiaries.
Muusa Bagala, the accountant of West Mengo Growers Cooperative Society told the Parliament committee chaired by Mwine Mpaka that upon receiving reports that Shs 2bn had been sent to the Sacco, he walked to Mawanda’s office at Parliament.
“When we asked Hon Mawanda about the compensation of Shs 2bn, he suggested a Shs 50m token to the SACCO’s leaders,” said Bagala, adding that this money was received from lawyers of M/S Justin Mungoma and Co. Advocates at KCB Bank in Kampala.
This development comes just a week after the arrest and charging of three Members of Parliament for allegedly attempting to extort close to Shs 12 billion from the chairperson of the Uganda Human Rights Commission, Mariam Wangadya, to pass the Shs 58 billion Commission budget.
According to the charge sheet, Cissy Namujju, the Woman MP for Lwengo district, Paul Akamba, the MP for Busiki County, and Yusuf Mutembuli, the MP for Busiki County, at Hotel Africana in Kampala, asked Wangadya for at least 20 per cent of the Shs 58 billion commission’s budget to be passed by Parliament.
