Mayor’s aide arrested on bribery claims

The political assistant to the Jinja mayor, has been arrested on claims of soliciting a bribe. Inspectorate of Government officials arrested him from an inn on Iganga Road in Jinja last week moments after he had allegedly received Shs200,000 of the Shs2m, which he had demanded from the District Vice Chairman, Mr Moses Batwala, to block a case before the IGG in which he was the defendant.

IGG’s trap

The Inspectorate’s intelligence officers arrested Mohammed Kezaala’s aide in a trap they laid for him following a report to the office that he had used the office in the hoax to trick Mr Batwala into the payoff.

While addressing journalists in her office, the IGG Eastern Uganda Regional Inspectorate Officer, Ms Dominic Baru, said the suspect allegedly forged documents and stamps from the IGG’s office in a fictitious report in which Mr Batwala was accused of engaging in irregular allocation of land in the district.

“He promised him that he could help him trace some officers from the IGG headquarters in Kampala who would bail him out of the problem and that they would require Shs2 million to drop the case,” Ms Baru explained. However, on crosschecking the matter at the Jinja office, Mr Batwala was surprised to find there was no case against him reported before the ombudsman.

Inquiry launch

This prompted the office to launch an enquiry into the report bearing a signature with corresponding resemblance to that of the IGG, supplied to Batwala on January 15 and also allegedly distributed to local radios in Jinja by the suspect.

Using Shs200,000 with pre-recorded serial numbers and a voice recorder, detectives from the IGG’s office arranged a meeting between him and Mr Batwala. However, the suspect who was paraded before the press at the IGG’s office, admitted receiving only Shs40,000 for airtime.
He is now detained at Jinja Central Police Station.