Kazinda decries continued stay in prison

By Sania Babirye

The former principle accountant in the office if the prime minister Geoffrey Kazinda has informed Anti corruption judge Margret Tubulya that he will not be appearing in court anymore in the trial of his illicit enrichment case until determination.

Kazinda has stated that its unfair and unjust that the Inspectorate of government is using the said case to deny him his freedom yet even the constitutional court dismissed charges against him in relation to the said case.

The frustrated Kazinda says that for the past eight years since he was first charged in 2013, the IGG has failed to complete the said case denying him his right to speedy trial and justice.

And as a result, Kazinda has asked court to continue the case without his intake and deliver judgement.

However, the IGG says the case is its advanced stages and that if Kazinda is frustrated now, he can be given smoke time to rest in Luzira and then be able to attend court for his case.

IGG also says that despite last week's ruling, court did not clear the said case against him.

This is the second time that court is freeing Kazinda but only to be remanded back for other pending charges.

IGG accuses Kazinda of amassing wealth amounting to 4.6 billion shillings which is not inline with his known income.

According to the IGG, Kazinda's estimated income as a public servant from 2009 to 2012 was 83.7 million shillings.

The DPP has meanwhile withdraw about 73 charges of corruption Including forgery, causing financial loss and criminal conspiracy among others against Kazinda that had been slapped against him by state after the constitutional court cleared Kazinda on the said charges.

Kazinda has been in Luzira prison since 2013 when he was convicted on unlawfully possessing government stores and sentenced to five years and despite finishing the said sentence he is still held in prison due to pending charges that continue to be brought against him by the state.

By the time of his arrest on illicit enrichment charges, IGG found out that Kazinda had rented Constellation suites in Nakasero and apartments in Kampala for ten months at a cost of 210 million shillings, had a house and land at Kyadondo , Mengo West valued at 3.1bn, cars including BMW,Mercedes Benz, ML class, Dodge Saloon car all valued at 769 million shillings and diverting over 20bn government funds.