COURT.
Three ruling National Resistance Movement legislators have a reason to smile after the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) formally withdrawn budget corruption charges against them.
The MPs ,Paul Akamba, Busiki County MP in Namutumba District; Cissy Namujju Dionizia, Woman MP for Lwengo District and Yusuf Mutembuli, Bunyole East MP in Butaleja District, are no longer facing criminal charges, bringing to an end the proceedings that had been before the Anti-Corruption Division of the High Court since 2024.
In a notice dated January 6, 2026, addressed to the Deputy Registrar of the Anti-Corruption Division in Kampala, the DPP informed court that the state would no longer pursue the criminal case against the three MPs.
“This is to inform you that the Director of Public Prosecutions has decided to discontinue the criminal proceedings in Criminal Case No: AC-CO-0078-2024 against all three accused persons,” the notice reads.
The decision was communicated through a letter filed in court under Section 133 of the Trial on Indictment Act.
The notice was signed by Chief State Attorney Jonathan Muwaganya and the Head of the Investment Crimes Prosecution Unit on behalf of the DPP.
A separate nolle prosequi, also dated January 6, 2026, states that the Government of Uganda “intends that the proceedings against Mutembuli, Akamba, and Namujju, charged with corruption shall not continue.”
The document was signed by DPP Lino Anguzu.
The three MPs had been charged under sections 2(e) and 26 of the Anti-Corruption Act, 2009 (as amended), with the prosecution alleging they sought a 5 percent kickback from the chairperson of the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC).
Before the withdrawal, the case had taken a constitutional turn following a human rights application by Akamba, who claimed he had been tortured and asked the High Court to drop the charges.
High Court judge Lawrence Gidudu declined to terminate the case at that stage but referred key questions to the Constitutional Court and temporarily halted the trial of all three MPs.
“I have given considerable thought to this matter and conclude that whilst several cases have interpreted the meaning of a fair trial in relation to the rights of an accused, I have not benefited from any interpretation of Article 28 of the Constitution regarding the rights of victims or society, which are larger than the accused,” Justice Gidudu said.
He added: “Consequently, the questions of law raised need to be interpreted by the Constitutional Court before this court is guided on how to proceed.”
The issues referred for constitutional interpretation included whether provisions of the Human Rights Enforcement Act mandating nullification of trials without taking evidence violate the right to a fair hearing and whether victims or society have rights protected under Article 28 of the Constitution.
With the filing of the nolle prosequi, the corruption proceedings against the three MPs are now discontinued.
However, Akamba faces a separate case, accused of conspiring with former Trade Permanent Secretary Geraldine Ssali, MPs Michael Mawanda (NRM, Igara East) and Ignatius Mudimi Wamakuyu (Elgon County), lawyer Taitankoko, and Leonard Kavundira, Principal Cooperative Officer from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, to defraud the government of Shs3.4 billion intended to compensate war victims of Buyaka Growers Co-operative Society.