President Yoweri Museveni has exercised his constitutional powers to grant a pardon to David Chandi Jamwa, the former Managing Director of the National Social Security Fund (NSSF). This move, as detailed in Museveni’s Instrument of Pardon exclusively obtained by ChimpReports, is based on public health and humanitarian grounds, as advised by the advisory committee on the prerogative of mercy.
“In the exercise of the power vested in me under article 121 (1) (a) of the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda, 1995, as amended and on the advice of the advisory committee on the prerogative of mercy, I hereby grant to the person below, on public health and humanitarian grounds,” reads the presidential instrument.
The recipient of the pardon is David Chandi Jamwa, identified by his prisoner number MBP 3348/2019. Alongside Jamwa, nine other prisoners have benefited from the President’s prerogative of mercy. The list includes Vincent Ntale, Nelson Drabo, James Omirambe, Samuel Aliama, Francis Leku, Joseph Kabila, Yoha Ayitia alias Samu, Fred Kato, and Jackson Owino.
Jamwa’s legal troubles began when the Supreme Court, in 2019, cancelled the bail previously granted to him and upheld a 12-year jail term imposed by the Anti-corruption Court in 2011. The charges stemmed from causing a 3.1 billion shillings loss to the NSSF in 2007.
The Supreme Court’s majority justices, in a 3-2 decision, deemed the 12-year jail term legal and valid. The conviction centered on Jamwa’s premature sale of NSSF treasury bonds at a loss to Crane Bank. The court emphasized that Jamwa’s individual decision to sell the bonds without consulting Standard Chartered Bank, the primary dealer with NSSF, was incorrect. The justices argued that rejecting the transaction would have allowed the bonds to mature, preserving their real value.
Despite Jamwa’s claims of the sale being a collective decision, both the Supreme Court and lower courts were unconvinced. The pardon comes after President Museveni, as the head of state, exercised his exclusive authority to grant clemency to inmates. Traditionally, the President has granted pardons, often occurring at the end or beginning of each year. In 2022, Museveni pardoned a total of 79 inmates across various prisons in Uganda.
