According to the Auditor General’s report for FY 2020/21, Namuli is among the six fictitious claimants who sold their land to the government in 2015 and were hurriedly paid Shs 10.6 billion. The compensation money originated from an unlawful Shs 292 billion supplementary budget initiated by the former Lands, Housing, and Urban Development minister and current Inspector General of Government (IGG) Beti Kamya.
On Wednesday, the witnesses cited in the allegations continued to contradict and trade counter-accusations on the sale of 516 hectares of land in Kagadi district in western Uganda and the subsequent compensation of Shs 2.09 billion to Namuli.
Although valued at Shs 2 billion, businessman Warren Mwesigye claims to have bought interest of the compensation at just Shs 318 million because Namuli badly needed the money (about Shs 1.6 billion) for medical treatment and the government was taking ages to pay. He said he paid Namuli Shs 318 million cash on July 25, 2020, at the NSSF House in Kampala in the presence of her son-in-law, Peter Amara. Mwesigye and Amara are reportedly good friends.
“I remember the transaction was made on 25 July 2020; the agreement between me and Natalia. She had a claim in Uganda Land Commission that had taken years, and she wanted money and wanted to sell her interest, so I paid them Shs 318 million in cash,” Mwesigye said.
Adding: “We negotiated, we agreed on the figure. I told him to give me days to mobilize funds. When I got the money, I called Peter [Amara] but that very day he told me they had given lawyer Richard Buzibira instructions to follow on the compensation. So when I got the money, I called Peter again, he came with his mother-in-law. We met at the law firm, and we finalised the deal. That is the day we made the agreement, 25th.”
On his part, lawyer Richard Buzibira who allegedly drafted the agreement, also insisted that money was indeed paid but both Namuli and Amara have denied receiving the money. Earlier, Namuli told the investigators that she did not know that there was even a land sale deal taking place, let alone that she was at the centre of it all, and that money had even exchanged hands but said that Amara, her son-in-law some time back, took her to Kampala and in a “storied building” made her sign some papers she did not understand.
Amara insists that on the said date, July 25, 2020, when the said transaction allegedly happened, he was not even in Kampala nor was his mother-in-law. Asked why he appended his signature on a cash agreement yet he claims that they were never paid, Amara said in the agreement, the ‘cash’ component was meant to be crossed out.
“I refute whatever he has said. We have never been paid and there is no way I can lie to this committee. In fact on the day he says we met, I was never in Kampala,” he said.
Due to the contradictions between witnesses, now Cosase chairperson, Joel Ssenyonyi has directed the retrieval of CCTV for July 25, 2020, bank statements and telephone printouts to help establish their exact locations or transactions on that date. He said even if it turns out to be true that money was paid to Namuli, the lawyers should prepare to refund taxpayers’ money because it was paid to a ‘ghost’ claimant who received compensation for land that she did not own as it belonged to the late John Kalete instead. It was established last week that Lubega’s law firm forged powers of attorney after forging the signature of High court judge Ralph Ocan.
“So we’re going to ask for CCTV footage from your landlord – that will be NSSF dating back to the day when you people are saying this transaction happened that 25th July and the monies exchanging hands in a brown bag. If indeed it happened, the CCTV footage will show. Two, I’m going to ask for your telephone contacts that you used to be in touch, then we’re going to get printouts from these telecommunication companies so that we establish who’s telling us the truth and who’s not,” he said.
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