Akamba was earlier granted a cash bail of Shs 13 million by chief magistrate Joan Aciro, who also ordered him to deposit his passport with the court. However, shortly after fulfilling the bail conditions, plainclothed armed personnel kidnapped as he exited the court premises, flanked by his supporters who screamed for his freedom.
During the scuffle, some individuals were kicked and battered as they tried to obstruct the MP’s rearrest. Several pistols were seen falling in the middle of the road as armed personnel whisked Akamba away into a waiting Noah vehicle and another speeding vehicle branded with a Joint Anti-Terrorism Taskforce (JATT) logo.
Before Akamba’s rearrest, armed personnel were seen within court premises taking pictures and interacting with ordinary people who were attending the court session. A prison warden asked one of the personnel to identify himself since he did not have a press tag.
The armed man wearing sneakers, blue jeans and brownish t-shirt, and a cape pulled out his card showing Special Forces Command (SFC), and he was permitted to continue taking pictures. Akamba is not the only accused person to bail only to get rearrested immediately within court premises.
The judiciary has in the past condemned this act, describing it as one that not only is unconstitutional but also amounts to interference with the powers of the courts. Akamba is jointly charged with Cissy Namujju, Lwengo District Woman MP, and Bunyole West MP Yusuf Mutembuli.
Busiki County MP Paul Akamba has been re-arrested by plainclothes alleged security personnel outside the Anti-Corruption Court in Kampala, moments after being granted bail. pic.twitter.com/i1ldLEMPLI
— The good gal💥 😍❤️🍷 (@Pliam_) June 14, 2024
Both Namujju and Mutembuli were earlier denied bail due to a lack of substantial sureties. The prosecution alleges that Mutembuli, Akamba, and Namujju solicited an undue advantage of 20 per cent of the anticipated budget of the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) for financial year 2024/2025 from Mariam Wangadya, chairperson of UHRC on May 13, 2024, at Hotel Africana in Kampala.
This was reportedly done by claiming they could exert improper influence over the decision-making of the parliament’s budget committee to increase the UHRC budget in exchange for the said undue advantage. Trouble for the accused began last week after President Yoweri Museveni in his State of the Nation Address, disclosed that he had overwhelming evidence of corruption among public officials.
Museveni claimed that MPs allegedly collude with accounting officers at ministry of Finance and Bank of Uganda to allocate public resources in exchange for kickbacks (bribes) and vowed to take action against them. Museveni revealed that the evidence confirmed long-standing rumours of corruption within the government, particularly during the annual appropriation of taxpayers’ money.
He suggested the possibility of granting amnesty to corrupt MPs, but the majority of legislators interrupted and demanded for ‘blood
