KAMPALA – A human resource officer from Mitooma has been thrown out of office and deterred from holding public office for 10 years after he pleaded guilty to having secured his job through bribery.
While appearing before the Anti-Corruption Court in Kampala on Tuesday, October 8, 2019, Onesmus Agaba admitted paying a bribe of UGX. 2.2 million to Senior Human Resource Officer Amon Byamukama to be offered a job at the district.
Mr Agaba, Mr Byamukama and two others were arrested last week on the orders of the Inspectorate of Government (IGG) over irregularities originating from the 2018 recruitment.
“It’s a known fact that rarely do accused persons plead guilty for fear of the consequential provisions of section 46, which provides that someone convicted of the offence under section 2 among others shall be disqualified from holding public office for a period of 10 years from the date of conviction,” Grade One Magistrate Albert Asiimwe held.
“The convict [Agaba] is sentenced to a maximum fine of 240 currency points, which translates into Shs4.8m. In case he fails to pay the fine, he will serve a sentence of 2 years so as to serve as a lesson to others,” he added.
Mr Byamukama and two other co-accused, Saverinus Beyendeza and Sarah Kiconco, who are community development officers, denied the charges
They were remanded until October 11 when they appear in court again.
According to the IGG, Byamugisha obtained Shs2.5 million from Keleth Atamba as an inducement to get him a job as a Procurement Officer of Mitooma District Local Government.
The same official is said to have received gratification of Shs1.5milliom on his phone number from Atamba in April 2018 to secure him the same job. Beyendiza is also alleged to have sought a Shs2 million bribe from Sarah Kiconco so as to secure her a job as a Community Development Officer of Mitooma District Local Government in April 2018. They all deny the charges.
