Court presided over by Brig Robert Freeman Mugabe granted bail to soldiers yesterday Monday. They include; Lt Alex Kasamula attached to Military Police at Makindye, Lt Phillip Neville Ankunda, a pilot attached to the Special Forces Command (SFC), Pte Nathan Ndwaine, a student of flight engineering and maintenance at Nakasongola Air Defence facility, Pte Moses Asiimwe, an aeroplane mechanical engineer and Pte Godfrey Mugabi.
It is alleged that between February and May 2020 in various parts of Kampala, the accused and others still at large, shared various security information with agents of the Rwandan government with the intent to prejudice Uganda’s security.Â
They reportedly created a Whatsapp group, ‘Nyaruju’ where they added Rwandan spies and shared information injurious to the cohesion of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF). The accused denied the charges on August 25, 2022 through their lawyers led by Elizabeth Nyansingwa. They asked court to release them on bail pending the determination of the charges against them.
They argued that they have been on remand for more than two years and have made several unsuccessful bail applications. Court also heard that the soldiers have fixed places of abode within the jurisdiction of the Court Martial and are ready to abide by terms and conditions imposed against them and that they had substantial sureties. In response to the case, the prosecutors last week didn’t oppose the bail application. Instead, they left it to the court to decide on whether to grant or deny them bail.Â
While delivering his ruling on Monday, the chairperson Brig Mugabe agreed with the accused persons that they had stayed long on remand and that the offences against them are available. He also took note of the fact that when they applied for bail, the prosecutors did not oppose the case and that their sureties who included relatives and fellow soldiers have been found to be substantial with permanent places of residence within the jurisdiction of the Court Martial.Â
Accordingly, Mugabe directed them not to travel beyond Kampala and Wakiso districts without court permission, report twice a month after two weeks on Fridays, and each of the applicants pay Shs 5 million cash while their sureties were bonded at Shs 10 million not cash. Should they breach any of the bail conditions, court will automatically cancel their bail. The soldiers were previously charged with two police officers Benon Akandwanaho, a community liaison officer for Kira police station and Frank Sabiiti, a counter-terrorism official attached to Mutukula border post who were granted bail some time back, leaving their co-accused battling the charges while on remand at Makindye Military police barracks since May 2020.
Sources say that trouble for the soldiers started when they found out that one of the members of that WhatsApp group where sensitive information was being shared had just joined the UPDF and passed out a few months within a short time yet he had also been commissioned as a soldier of the Rwandan army.
The sources say they were puzzled about that soldier’s motives as he was found also with two valid cards from the two security forces belonging to the two countries. Under the UPDF Act, a person who is subject to military law and discloses by word of mouth or by document confidential information to the enemy or to authorized members of the defense forces or the public …..commits an offence and upon conviction, he or she is liable to suffer death.
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