The Buganda Road Chief Magistrates Court has remanded two leaders of the Uganda Liberal Teachers’ Union Members’ SACCO on charges of obtaining money by false pretense and conspiracy to defraud.
The leaders are Evans Mutesasira Kaganizo, the SACCO Chairperson who resides at Katanga Zone in Bushenyi District and Esiingwa Hassan Maganda, the General Secretary and a resident of Nacwesambula B, Baitambogwe sub-ounty, Bunya County, Mayuge district.
The two were on Thursday arraigned before the Court Presided over by the Buganda Road Court Chief Magistrate Ronald Kayizzi, where they denied obtaining sh1.375bn from the SACCO by falsely pretending to sell 500 acres of land at Block 3 in Kabwoya/Kyangwali sub-counties. The said crime was reportedly committed between November and December 2024.
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However, records before the Court indicate that investigations revealed that the land does not exist and is part of the Bunyoro Kingdom land, with Maganda only entitled to an equitable share upon completion of the survey.
The court also heard that the SACCO leaders conspired to defraud the organization of sh2.75bn by purchasing non-existent land, a house in Kira and a Toyota Hilux with registration number UBR 938S at an inflated cost of sh234m also in 2024.
Investigations revealed that on December 9, 2024, the non-existent land was purchased from Hansem Technical Services Limited. The agreement was signed by Mutesasira Evans Kaganizo (Chairperson), Nathan Kakson Twinomujuni (General Secretary), and Ninsiima Allen Buzaare (board member). However, it was discovered that the land was not owned by Hansem Technical Services Limited, and the sale agreement was a sham.
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Furthermore, investigations showed that on December 16, 2024, sh1,375,030,100 was paid by the Teachers SACCO on the account of Esiigwa Hassan Maganda Nsiyona, not Hansem Technical Services Limited, the vendor in the sale agreement.
This payment was made without the resolution of the SACCO members and the approval of the Registrar of Cooperatives.
Records show that the SACCO leaders spent over sh3bn within a month without following proper procedures.
As a result, this raised suspicions, and a whistleblower complaint was filed with the State House Anti-Corruption Unit in November 2024, alleging misappropriation of the sh6.66bn granted to teachers by President Yoweri Museveni during the National Teachers’ Day celebrations in 2023. They were remanded until March 19, 2025, as investigations continue.