Kigulu South MP, Andrew Kaluya, has written to the head of State House’s Anti-Corruption Unit Lt. Col. Edith Nakalema, to intervene and bring Equal Opportunities Commission boss Sylvia Ntambi muwebwa to justice. Ntambi is accused of corruption but she has failed to appear before the anti-corruption court despite several summons.
Kaluya who is a member of the African Parliamentary Commission Against Corruption has wondered how Ntambi has been “hiding from justice” since September.
In his letter to Nakalema, Kaluya recounts the sequence of events noting that on September 22, Ntambi sent a lawyer from Kaggwa & Kaggwa Advocates to the Anti-Corruption Court, who claimed that she was out of Kampala and requested to appear on October 7, a request that was granted by the chief magistrate.
“On 7th October 2020, Ntambi, through her newly engaged lawyer, Macdusman Kabega from Tumusiime, Kabega & Co. Advocates tendered documents before court, claiming that she was admitted in Medik Hospital in Kawempe. Ntambi deceived court that she was suffering from chronic hypertension and that her condition required a major operation at Medik Hospital in Kawempe. However, investigative journalists immediately visited Medik Hospital and were shocked to learn that Ntambi had never been admitted nor visited that facility,” Kaluya’s letter reads in part.
During the court proceedings, the chief magistrate directed that Ntambi is produced in court on October 29, or she faces arrest.
“It has been widely observed that Ntambi openly abused and insulted the courts of law,” Kaluya notes.
“We propose that concerned state agencies like police and the State House Anti-Corruption Unit should support the DPP’s office and expeditiously investigate this matter to enable the chief magistrate make an informed decision,” he writes.
“The directors of Medik Hospital must exhibit professionalism by openly telling Ugandans how the embattled chairperson of EOC acquired documents purportedly issued by their health facility. This needs to be urgently investigated and the findings submitted to court,” he adds.
Ntambi is charged on separate counts of conspiracy to defraud the government of Shs35m in 2019, conspiracy to defraud government of Shs9m and negligence of duty leading to gross mismanagement of the commission’s funds.