President Yoweri Museveni has granted a pardon to John Muhanguzi Kashaka, the former Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Local Government, who had been serving a 10-year prison sentence.
Kashaka was convicted for his role in a bicycle procurement scandal, which caused the government a financial loss of 4.2 billion Ugandan shillings.
The announcement was made by Moses Ssentalo, Assistant Public Relations Officer for the Uganda Prison Services, in a statement on Thursday night.
Official Statement from Uganda Prison Services
According to the statement, the pardon was granted under Article 121(1)(a) of the 1995 Constitution of Uganda. President Museveni pardoned both Kashaka and Henry Bamutura (posthumously), who were convicted by the Anti-Corruption Division of the High Court in 2014 for causing financial loss. Both had been sentenced to 10 years and 10 days in prison, with their earliest possible release date set for April 17, 2021, subject to remission.
In November and December 2014, respectively, the Court of Appeal granted bail to both Kashaka and Bamutura, but in December 2019, the same court upheld their convictions and sentences, returning them to prison.
Bamutura was later granted bail by the Supreme Court in March 2020 after serving a little over eight months.
As of October 3, 2024, John Muhanguzi Kashaka has officially been released under a presidential pardon, having served five years, two months, and nine days of his sentence.
Background on the Bicycle Procurement Scandal
The case dates back to 2019, when the Court of Appeal upheld a 10-year sentence for Kashaka. He had been convicted for his involvement in a fraudulent deal to purchase 70,000 bicycles from India for use by parish and Local Council chairpersons in Uganda’s 2011 general elections.
The bicycles, which were never delivered, resulted in a financial loss of 4.2 billion shillings to the government.
In addition to Kashaka, several other officials were convicted.
These include Henry Bamutura, who was also sentenced to 10 years, Sam Emorut Erongot, an assistant commissioner, who received a 13-year sentence, and Adam Aluma, who served one year and nine months.
The presiding judge in 2014, Catherine Bamugemereire, not only sentenced the convicts to jail but also barred them from holding any government office for 10 years.
The court further ordered them to compensate the government for the lost funds.
