Three Ugandan legislators have been charged with corruption-related offenses, according to a charge sheet seen by Reuters on Saturday, as President Yoweri Museveni’s government intensifies its crackdown on rampant graft among lawmakers.
MPs Michael Mawanda Maranga, Ignatius Wamakuyu Mudimi, and Paul Akamba appeared in court late on Friday and faced charges of “diversion of public resources,” the charge sheet indicated.
All three are members of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party.
The legislators pleaded not guilty and were remanded to prison.
Corruption and misuse of government funds are widespread in the East African country, with critics accusing Museveni of turning a blind eye to corruption by top officials loyal to him and his ruling party.
Prosecutors allege the three lawmakers diverted about 3.4 billion Ugandan shillings ($908,605) for purposes unrelated to the intended use of the funds.
The charge sheet also states that the suspects allegedly “conspired to defraud the government of Uganda.”
One of their lawyers, Caleb Alaka, argued in court that the suspects’ constitutional rights had been violated.
Additionally, Akamba had already been charged with corruption-related offenses the previous week and remanded, along with two other lawmakers. They were accused of attempting to influence the chairperson of the state-funded Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) to inflate the organization’s 2024/25 (July-June) budget, in return for giving the lawmakers 20% of the inflated amount.