Injustice Most Foul: Shame as New Forgery Charges Against Dr. Balondemu Were Committed While He was Rotting Away in Police Cells

Dr David Balondemu, the Chairman of Kampala District Land Board, was on Monday arraigned and charged with fresh charges of forgery, sparking his third round of incarceration at Luzira’s based Murchison Bay prison. The prominent lawyer’s arraignment followed his October 11^th arrest from Entebbe International Airport fresh from a trip abroad and as he prepared to travel to Kampala.

His lawyer, Hassan Kamba, who was joined by his colleague, Robert Bautu, had applied for bail for him, but Buganda Road Chief Magistrate, Ronald Kayizzi, who read out the latest charges, refused in the meantime to release him, preferring to first hear from the prosecution side, differing his ruling to next Monday.

The new charges indicate that Balondemu and a one Hassan Ssegujja, plus others not yet apprehended and therefore not before court, in the month of October of last year, while at Kampala Hospital, forged a medical prescription letter dated November 7^th of that same year. They are additionally alleged to have forged a computed CT scan dated June 12^th of the same year.

Neatly clad in a charcoal great suit and a tie, the visibly calm and bespectacled suspect denied all the charges and following the presiding magistrate’s rejection of his bail application, a prison warder escorted him back to the court’s holding cells where he had initially emerged from, awaiting his return on remand.

Separately, it has since emerged that Balondemu was reportedly under detention in the cells of Wandegeya Police Station by the time the prosecution alleges, he was also present at Kampala Hospital busy forging medical documents. That likely implies, unless he was a ghost capable of being present at two different places at the same time, Balondemu could not have been present at Kampala Hospital at the same time as he was being held inside the police cells at Wandegeya police station.

For the record, Wandegeya Police Station and Kampala Hospital lie separate from each other. One is in Kololo while the other is located in Wandegeya. For that matter, a suspect who was being held in the police cells of Wandegeya Police Station could not possibly have also at the same time, be present at Kampala Hospital located in Kololo.

In the meantime, we shall leave to SHACU and the DPP, Justice Jane Frances Abodo to table evidence capable of unraveling the above mystery, if any. Balondemu’s defense lawyer, Kamba told journalists after the adjournment of the case that they were only waiting for prosecution to table their evidence and then proceed to defend their client

The new forgery criminal charges come on the backdrop of the court’s dismissal of the earlier ones related to a disputed gold transaction and a disputed government tender following the SHACU’s and DPP’s failure to substantiate the same.

This media website had forecasted the original cases’ dismissal beforehand, citing lack of incriminating evidence to substantiate the same ( https://theinvestigatornews.com/2023/11/the-balondemu-gold-case-details-why-the-kampala-land-boss-is-poised-to-win-the-poorly-handled-case-and-can-ably-squeeze-a-good-compensation-out-of-govt/) For making that forecast, SHACU ended up describing us as agents of fraudsters purportedly out on a mission to block them from carrying out their duties of stopping the fraudsters.

Hyuan Kim, a South Korean businessman, had raised the first criminal report, complaining that a group of conmen had in 2022 staged a fake gold transaction, defrauding him of more than two billion Ugandan shillings. A group of Americans had raised the second one, grumbling that a group of fraudsters had between 2022 and 2023 lured them into applying for a fake government tender, defrauding them out of close to three billion Ugandan shillings.

Despite Kim and the Americans’ exclusion of Balondemu from those sagas, clearly indicating through their respective statements that the people who had conned them were without him, SHACU dragged him into them. And the DPP herself cleared the disputed cases for the court’s trial. Interestingly, none of the complainants turned up in court, leaving SHACU and the DPP alone to prove those cases against Balondemu whom they had not implicated in their statements. Following the dismissal of the said cases, Balondemu has since sued the government, demanding up to UGX20Bn in compensation and damages, arising out of his false arrest, detention and malicious prosecution.

And both the DPP and SHACU have been grumbling, dusting off old cases and lining up new ones, culminating into the latest forgery case against Balondemu, one Hassan Ssegujja and others not yet apprehended and therefore, not already before court. Separately, we have since learned from credible sources that come next Monday or shortly thereafter, more new criminal cases are set to be forwarded to court with a view to elongate Balondemu’s stay in prison. Time will prove us right or wrong.

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Stephen Kasozi Muwambi: Mr. Stephen Kasozi Muwambi is a seasoned crime investigative writer, majoring in judicial-based stories. His two decades’ experience as a senior investigative journalist has made him one of the best to reckon on in Uganda. He can also be reached via [email protected]