Opinion
By Kizza Besigye
At the most critical time in the 2006 presidential election campaigns, I was being tried for rape.
The trial started soon after I secured court bail. I had been nominated while in Luzira prison charged with (on top of rape) treason, terrorism, and illegal possession of guns.
The trial was concluded towards the end of the campaigns but the historic judgment by Justice JB Katutsi was delivered long after the elections.
This case has come back to me vividly after learning of the appointment of a Mr John Musinguzi Rojoki as the new Commissioner General of Uganda Revenue Authority (URA).
Mr Musinguzi played a key role in the patently trumped-up rape case.
At the time, he worked as the Head of Audit and Finance in the Revenue Protection Services (RPS), then headed by Gen (now) Kale Kayihura. Apparently, during the trial, he’d stepped out to work for a private IT Company.
In his evidence, he said that he and his family were known to President Museveni, even before he was appointed to work for RPS because they hail from the same place.
He said that he’s the one who took Ms Kyakuwa (the rape case complainant) to meet Mr Museveni at State House, where, as the Court heard, the case was “constructed”!
The prosecutor in this, and other cases I faced, was Mr Simon Byabakama, then a Deputy DPP, and now a Judge of the Court of Appeal and Chairman of the Electoral Commission (holding onto both jobs contrary to law).
It’s actually surprising that, unlike his teammates, Gen Kale Kayihura and Justice Simon Byabakama, Mr John Musinguzi Rukoki had not featured prominently in top Government offices!
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Well, here he comes, to deal with the COVID19 URA challenge. Happily, I never hold grudges against the myriad of people that have persecuted me and those that continue to do so.
Karibu! I’ve already paid my latest tax bill!
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Looking at some of the comments in my social media circles, it looks like the appointment of homeboy John Musinguzi to replace Doris Akol at the country's tax body URA has wiped away some of the gains brought by against sectarianism and tribal talk.
— Peter G. Mwesige (@pmwesige)
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