Former PS Ssali, co-accused expected in court today

Embattled former permanent secretary of the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Cooperatives, Ms Geraldine Ssali Busulwa is expected to appear in court on Tuesday morning to face corruption-related charges.

Ssali will be arraigned before the Anti-Corruption Division of the High Court to enter a plea on allegations of abuse of office, causing government financial loss, and conspiring with three MPs, a lawyer, and a ministry official to defraud the government of over Shs3.6 billion intended for war victim compensation.

Ssali is charged jointly with MPs Michael Mawanda, Ignatius Wamakuyu, Paul Akamba, lawyer Julius Kirya Taitankonko, and Leonard Kavundira, a principal cooperative officer in the trade ministry. They also face charges of diversion of public resources, conspiracy to defraud, money laundering, stealing by agent, and receiving stolen property.

Prosecutors allege that Ssali, while serving as permanent secretary during the financial years 2021/2022 and 2022/2023, irregularly included the Buyaka Growers Cooperative Society Ltd in the list of cooperatives to receive compensation for war losses, even though it had not been included in the supplementary budget of August 2021.

Furthermore, Ssali is accused of making irregular payments totaling Shs3,868,714,611 to Kirya and Company Advocates, a law firm owned by co-suspect Julius Kirya Taitankonko, under the pretext of compensating war victims of the Buyaka Growers Cooperative Society. Prosecutors claim that Ssali knew these actions would cause financial loss to the government as they violated Treasury Instructions of 2017.

Written by Ruth Anderah