The Anti-Corruption Court on Monday issued a criminal summons for Geraldine Ssali, the former permanent secretary of the Trade Ministry, after she failed to appear for a scheduled hearing in a sprawling fraud case tied to the misappropriation of UGX. 3.8 billion in war-loss compensation funds.
The case, which has ensnared three sitting Members of Parliament and senior officials, centers on allegations that Ms Ssali and her co-accused conspired to siphon off 3.8 billion Ugandan shillings ($1 million) meant for the Buyaka Growers Co-operative Society, a group of farmers displaced during the country’s brutal 1980s civil war.
Prosecutors contend that in the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 fiscal years, Ssali unlawfully inserted the cooperative onto an eligibility list for reparations, bypassing the approved supplementary budget.
She then greenlit payments to Kirya and Company Advocates, a firm owned by co-defendant Julius Taitankoko Kirya, under the pretext of settling legitimate claims.
The scheme, investigators say, flouted the 2017 Treasury Instructions and inflicted a massive financial wound on the state, with funds allegedly funneled through a web of intermediaries. “This was not an oversight but a deliberate conspiracy to divert public money,” said Senior State Attorney Raymond Mugisa, who requested the summons after Ssali’s no-show. All other defendants lawmakers Michael Mawanda, Ignatius Mudimi Wamakuyu and Paul Akamba of Busiki County; lawyer Kirya; and principal cooperative officer Leonard Kavundira appeared in court, where their bail was extended.
Ssali’s absence, unexplained by her counsel or surety, marked the latest twist in a trial already mired in legal maneuvering. Proceedings ground to a halt in October when Judge Jane Kajuga Akuo ruled that Akamba’s pending human rights petition against the attorney general must be resolved first. Akamba claims his arrest and prosecution violated constitutional protections, a challenge now before the Constitutional Court. The case was adjourned until Feb. 5, 2026, a date requested by Akamba’s lawyer, Sydney Odong, who cited the upcoming general elections as a complicating factor. “Owing to what is going on,” Odong told the court, urging a post-vote hearing.
The scandal underscores Uganda’s persistent battle against corruption in postwar reparations, programs designed to heal communities ravaged by conflict but often exploited by the powerful. Ssali, who was suspended from her post amid the probe, joins a roster of high-profile figures accused of betraying public trust.
The lawmakers, all from President Yoweri Museveni’s ruling National Resistance Movement, face charges that could tarnish the party’s image ahead of 2026 polls.
Prosecutors hailed the summons as a step toward accountability. “No one is above the law,” Mugisa told reporters outside the courthouse, a nondescript building in Kampala’s bustling commercial district. Ssali’s representatives offered no comment, but her legal team has previously decried the charges as politically motivated.
As Uganda grapples with economic strains inflation hovering at 5 percent and youth unemployment fueling unrest — cases like this fuel public outrage. Activists, including those from the Anti-Corruption Coalition Uganda, have called for swift trials and asset freezes to recover the pilfered funds. The Buyaka cooperative, its members still awaiting rightful compensation, symbolizes the human cost: farmers who tilled scorched earth now watch as bureaucrats squabble over stolen reparations.
The court’s next moves hinge on the Constitutional Court’s ruling, but for now, Ssali’s summons serves as a flashing red light in Uganda’s shadowed corridors of power — a signal that impunity may finally be cracking.
