NATIONAL NEWS NEW VISION, Thursday, March 6, 2014 5 Man arrested New city over conning bus system tourists By Steven Candia for October and Rachael Nassuuna By Taddeo Bwambale The Police have arrested a man for allegedly defrauding tour- Sematimba A rapid city bus transport sys- ists of over sh16m. tem managed by the Kampala Lucky Bonard Katebire, 35, Capital City Authority (KCCA) who is said to have been run- will start in October, officials ning a briefcase tour company, have disclosed. was arrested from his Kisasi KCCA in partnership with residence by the Tourism private players is seeking to Police last week, ending an acquire up to 5,000 buses for 11-month hunt. The hunt for an efficient public transport Katebire had been on since system in the city. March last year when the first The bus service is intended complaint against him was re- to reduce congestion by edging portedly lodged. commuter taxis and bodabo- Parading the suspect before das out of Kampala. the press at the Kampala Cen- Nakibuuka The Police outside Muyenga Club yesterday. Photo by Wilfred Sanya The bidding process for the tral Police Station yesterday, provision of the bus serv- Patience Kembabazi from the ice started yesterday and the Tourism Police, said Katebire shortlisting of operators will be was arrested after three tourists done on March 24. The high- were conned of $6,485 (about est bidder will be announced sh16.2m). on April 14. “He also has a case connect- Sematimba thrown Interested firms will be re- ed with defrauding another quired to state their capacity to tour operator of sh18.5m,” offer the service and commit to Kembabazi added. ply the bus routes that will be She said the suspect ran designated. Connect Hemisphere Safari, a KCCA spokesperson Peter shady tour company that was out of Muyenga Club Kaujju said the buses would not registered. start operating in October this The Police also accused Ka- By Chris Kiwawulo Resort Hotel Limited or their agents from ferred from Sebalu’s into Sematimba’s year. teribe of forging and issuing managing Muyenga Club. name on December 11, 2013. The buses will be managed gorilla permits. Themi Sebalu Nakibuuka, the daughter The Judge also ordered Sematimba and Nakibuuka, however, says the signature in conjunction with KCCA un- “We have only one body that of the late lawyer, Paulo Sebalu, has evict- Muyenga Resort Hotel to file to court an that was used to transfer the land was der a public-private partner- is authorised to issue permits ed city businessman Peter Sematimba inventory and full account of assets and forged. ship arrangement. for tourists and that is the from Muyenga Club located in a Kampala liabilities of Muyenga Club. “We asked Sematimba to produce docu- The buses will have to be 10- Uganda Wildlife Authority,” suburb. Court appointed five administrators of mentary proof showing that my father be- 12 metres long and capable of Kembabazi said. Nakibuuka threw Sematimba out on the late Sebalu’s estate to preserve and queathed the land to him as gifts but he carrying between 70 and 90 the basis of a court order. The name of manage it in the interim. failed,” she stated. passengers, environmentally Muyenga Club had changed to Muyenga They are former Deputy Chief Justice Nakibuuka also accuses Sematimba friendly and preferably fitted ON THE Resort Hotel. Alice Mpagi Bahigeine, businessman of meddling in the estate of her late fa- with Euro 3 engines that limit According to documents, Sematimba Gordon Wavamuno, Dr. Stephen Kijjam- ther. According to minutes of a meeting emissions. GROUND together with Juliet Nambi Nantongo are bu, Samuel Njuki and Nakibuuka. regarding the late Sebalu’s estate which In an effort to streamline the directors of Muyenga Resort Hotel. The interim order subsists until April was attended by his Mamba (lung fish) public transport in Kampala, Last month, Nakibuuka went to court, 7, when the main application is fixed for clan members and friends on January 17, KCCA last year registered up The accusing Sematimba of fraudulently hearing. 2014, Sematimba claimed that the late Se- to 60,000 bodaboda cyclists Police said transferring her father’s land in Muyenga Sebalu, one of the proprietors of Sebalu balu had bequeathed the property to him operating in Kampala, in an Kateribe and Kyaggwe into his name. and Lule Advocates, died on November 8, as a gift. exercise expected to streamline would either Yesterday, court bailiffs backed by the 2013 at the age of 88. Sematimba is Se- Sematimba reportedly told the meeting their operations. offer partial Police evicted workers and pulled down balu’s nephew. that Sebalu had transferred the land in Under the new regulations service or no the Muyenga Resort Hotel signpost. The prime land measuring 0.48 acres in Kyaggwe on block 149 Plot 202 into his proposed by KCCA, bodabodas service at The order, issued on March 4 by Justice Muyenga is valued at about $2m (about name between 2010 and 2011. shall wear reflector jackets, op- all and leave Lillian Mwandha, the Deputy Registrar of sh5b) with the developments thereon. When contacted, Sematimba said these erate in designated areas and the tourists the High Court’s Family Division, gave According to documents seen by New were private matters that he was not at their movement restricted to stranded. orders restraining Sematimba, Muyenga Vision, the Muyenga property was trans- liberty to discuss in public. particular streets. Probe scribes’ deaths, Police asked By John Agaba ed a probe into the death of the rights of journalists are Alex Kule, another journalist violated. The Uganda Human Rights who died shortly after he was He said sometimes, govern- Network for Journalists on found injured in the transmis- ment agencies and persons Tuesday released the 2013 sion room of Messiah Radio who violate journalists’ rights Press Freedom Index report Station in western Uganda in go unpunished. and asked the Police to probe December last year. The report cites the Police as the murder of New Vision jour- the lead violators of journalists’ nalist Thomas Pere. rights. Pere’s body was discovered in BETWEEN THE LINES: Out of the 124 cases of viola- a trench in Masajja, off Enteb- tions against journalists HRNJ be Road on June 16 last year. The report cites documented in 2013, 85 were A month after Pere’s murder, the Police as the lead by the armed forces. two taxi drivers were arrested violators of journalists’ The report says journalists after they were found with a rights. Out of the 124 are detained without charges, taxi that had bloodstains. cases of violations sometimes even beyond the But in September, Katwe Po- against journalists HRNJ required 48 hours. lice Post released the suspects documented in 2013, 85 It disapproves of the manner after DNA results were found were by armed forces. in which two national publica- to be negative. tions were closed. In the report that was re- Speaking during the launch According to the report, the leased in Kampala, the journal- of the report, Robert Ssempala, Uganda Communications Act ists asked the Police to investi- the HRNJ Uganda co-ordina- 2013 and the Public Order gate Pere’s death and bring the tor, said government agencies, Management Act 2013 are culprits to book. especially the Police, are reluc- against freedom of speech and The journalist also demand- tant to follow up cases where expression.