VZCZCXRO0644
RR RUEHRN RUEHROV
DE RUEHKM #1199/01 2050810
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 240810Z JUL 07
FM AMEMBASSY KAMPALA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9114
INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE
RUEHXR/RWANDA COLLECTIVE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KAMPALA 001199 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/10/2017 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KCRM UG
SUBJECT: UGANDA: CORRUPTION TRIAL POSTPONED 
 
REF: KAMPALA 909 
 
Classified By: P/E Chief Kathleen FitzGibbon for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d 
). 
 
¶1.  (C)  Summary:  The Government requested a postponement of 
the high profile trial of former Ministry of Health officials 
involving the redirection of funds for immunization to 
political mobilization campains.  The trial, which began on 
July 16, was delayed because the Government said it was not 
ready to try the case.  The judge granted the postponement 
and the case will be heard on October 29.  The Inspector 
General of Government (IGG) did not build the type of case 
that could stand up in court, according to senior government 
advisers.  As a result, the Director of Public Prosecutions 
(DPP) and the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) joined 
the prosecution team.  The defendants claim to have 
documentary evidence proving that they were authorized to 
redirect the health funds by Museveni and the Cabinent.  They 
also claim that State House pressure on them was increasing 
as the trial approached and that none of them were willing to 
turn against the other.  Without this type of admission, the 
Government's case was weak.  In addition, proceeding with the 
IGG's case under these circumstances could have exposed the 
Presidency to potentially damaging information about the 
President's role in authorizing the diversion without a 
guaranteed victory.  The trial has divided Uganda's ruling 
class, deepened the wedge between the President and First 
Lady's support camps and heated up succession speculation. 
End Summary. 
 
- - - - - - 
BACKGROUND 
- - - - - - 
 
¶2.  (C)  Former Health Minister Jim Muhwezi, Ministers of 
State for Health Mike Mukula and Alex Kamugisha, and State 
House mobilizer Alice Kaboyo were arrested in May and charged 
with theft of approximately USD 900,000 from the Global 
Alliance for Vaccinations and Immunization (GAVI) after the 
IGG, Faith Mwondha, conducted an investigation at President 
Museveni's request (reftel).  At the center of the storm is 
Amelia Kyambadde, the President's Private Personal Secretary, 
who reportedly goaded Museveni into taking action for her own 
selfish interests.  Kyambadde knew that the scandal would 
implicate Janet Museveni, who was her primary rival at State 
House, Janet's niece, Kaboyo, who was "insubordinate" to 
Kyambadde, and Muhwezi, also in Janet's camp.  Mwondha 
presented the results of her investigation to Museveni, who 
requested, in writing, that she arrest Muhwezi, Mukula, 
Kamugisha, and Kaboyo.  However, in the rush to bring Muhwezi 
and the other defendants to trial based on the IGG's 
investigation, State House did not develop a well-thought out 
legal strategy and failed to involve the DPP and CID.  (Note: 
The Government initially may have avoided CID because it is 
well-known for corruption and Muhwezi, the former Chief of 
Military Intelligence, has strong ties within the security 
apparatus.  End Note.) 
 
- - - - - - 
THE DEFENSE 
- - - - - - 
 
¶3.  (C) The defendants are threatening to produce evidence 
implicating Museveni and the Cabinet for directing the 
Ministry of Health to source the immunization funds for 
campaign purposes.  They also have requested that First Lady 
Janet Museveni take the stand to explain why her office, 
which is not constitutional, had access to the health funds 
and how she accounted for them.  Muhwezi and Mukula are 
surprisingly confident and maintain that they welcome a 
speedy trial.  Mukula's defense is that he just moved the 
paperwork between Muhwezi and the permanent secretary.  His 
documentation also includes Cabinet minute meetings during 
which the redirection of the GAVI funds for political 
purposes was authorized by Museveni and the Prime Minister. 
It remains to be seen whether or not he would produce them in 
a public trial.  The defense also has evidence to refute 
Museveni's claims that he did not know the GAVI funds had 
come into the country, which includes Museveni's designation 
of the Vice President to receive the funds. 
 
¶4.  (C) The four defendants are being tried together and have 
so far stuck together despite State House propositions and 
mutual distrust.  Mukula says he dislikes Muhwezi for being 
highly corrupt and for using the funds exclusively in 
southwestern Uganda at the expense of his home area in 
eastern Uganda, Teso.  Muhwezi has never shown any remorse 
for the misuse of health funds.  Alice Kaboyo told P/E chief 
on July 2 that she is completely disillusioned with 
Museveni's abandonment of her after the loyalty she had shown 
him and his family.  According to Kaboyo, the President told 
 
KAMPALA 00001199  002 OF 002 
 
 
her to cooperate with the IGG, which she did.  In her 
statement to the IGG, Kaboyo said that Museveni authorized 
the sourcing of political mobilization funds out of the GAVI. 
 Museveni requested that she retract that statement and 
provide evidence against Muhwezi.  The President said that he 
would pay back the funds she had handled in return.  Kaboyo 
refused the offer and remains under pressure from state 
security organs to accept.  For now, she remains solidly 
within Janet Museveni's camp and says she would not break 
ranks with the other defendants.  Kamugisha also is being 
threatened with financial ruin by government security 
operatives.  He told Mukula that he had been approached by 
State House to turn on Jim Muhwezi.  For his part, Muhwezi 
maintains the case was initiated to weaken his standing and 
influence within the ruling party.  Muhwezi told P/E chief 
that he and others are laying the foundation for a "third 
force" to back Janet Museveni to run for President, which 
would be made up of current disgruntled ruling party members 
and be backed by a new newspaper. 
 
- - - - - - - - - - - 
STATE HOUSE POSITION 
- - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶5.  (C) Moses Byaruhanga, Political Advisor to Museveni, told 
P/E Chief on July 10 that the IGG's case against the former 
health officials was weak and that he expected the defendants 
to win the case if it proceeded.  He explained that in most 
cases, the DPP works closely with the CID in building cases 
that would stand up in court.  In this case, the IGG 
proceeded to trial on the basis of its own investigation, 
which lacks solid evidence and depended on testimony from 
government officials and information provided by Kyambadde. 
As a result, State House had lost confidence that it could 
win the case. 
 
¶6.  (U) As the trial opened on July 16, Michael Wamasebu, the 
prosecutor from the IGG's office, requested more time for a 
new team of lawyers from the DPP's office to become familiar 
with the case.  A joint IGG-DPP team would now try the case. 
 Defense lawyers protested, arguing that the time and date of 
the trial was fixed and that an unprepared prosecution team 
was not sufficient grounds for a postponement.  Justice 
Margaret Tibulya rejected the argument and ruled that there 
was sufficient cause and read out a new charge sheet. 
 
¶7.  (C) The Presidency is fighting defense requests to call 
First Lady Janet Museveni to the stand.  The First Lady's 
office used the funds to hold partisan mobilization workshops 
in the run-up to last year's presidential and legislative 
elections, in which she was a candidate.  Janet Museveni 
filed paperwork with the Ministry of Health "repaying" the 
borrowed funds, but inside observers allege that she produced 
the same accounting for other donor funds. 
 
- - - - 
COMMENT 
- - - - 
 
¶8.  (C)  The President has struck first with the arrests. 
Unfortunately, the value of the case as a sign of the 
Government's will to fight corruption has been lost as the 
political elite and the public focuses on the 
behind-the-scenes battle for political influence.  Many view 
the arrests as part of a plan to hush anti-fourth party 
members.   Various members of the ruling party are lining up 
behind either the President or Janet Museveni.  The case 
against Muhwezi involves complicated political maneuvering 
between the Banyankole and Bahima ethnic clans, each 
represented by the President and First Lady, respectively. 
Given the apparent lack of a Government legal strategy, we 
expect the case to drag on in a similar manner to the 
three-year old case against the Peoples' Redemption Army to 
mount pressure on the defendants to testify against Muhwezi. 
We do not expect to see key individuals jailed on corruption 
charges. 
BROWNING