Uganda’s loud mouth and self-styled Social media activist, Frank Gashumba together with his co-accused have pleaded with Buganda Road Court to dismiss the charges against them saying they suffered injustice when they were remanded to prison.
Gashumba is charged alongside his brother, Innocent Kasumba alias Mutabazi and Ismail Kiyingi.
They are accused of impersonating Dr. John Tumwine, the Director of Logistics Ministry of Defense, possession of Narcotic Drugs such as Marijuana, conspiracy to commit a felony by obtaining money by false pretense when they offered contracts to Kolgvan M. Dirutop and Manu Meersogh to supply Water Tanks, trucks, heavy machines and troop carriers to Uganda.
The trio is also accused of forging the stamps of Ministry of Education and Sports, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Defense of South Sudan. According to to the charge sheet, the suspects committed the offenses on September 12th, 2017 at Golden Tullip Hotel on Kafu road in Kampala.
But, while appearing before the Buganda Road Chief Magistrate, James Eremye Mawanda, on Monday morning, the suspect's Lawyer, Denis Nyombi told court that his clients suffered injustice during remand in prison. He explained that the suspects were arraigned in court after spending on remand more than the 48 mandatory hours, which violated their rights and the constitution of Uganda.
The counsel further claimed that while on remand, the suspects were denied access to doctors and their relatives. Nyombi therefore asked court to dismiss the charges against the suspects because of the injustice they faced while on remand. However, the Senior Resident State Attorney, Jonathan Muwaganya asked court to allow government extra time to conclude its investigations.
He prayed for adjournment for three weeks, but Mawanda rejected the request and gave the state a week to conclude its investigations. He adjourned the matter to February 26th, 2018.
