Kitatta to spend 8 years in the coolers

The General Court Martial sitting in Makindye has sentenced former Boda boda 2010 patron Abdalla Kitatta to  a total eight years after he was found  guilty on two counts: unlawful possession of an SMG rifle and a pistol without a valid firearm licence and  unlawful possession of 30 and 20 rounds of ammunition for SMG rifles and pistol.

For each of the counts, he was sentenced to 10 years but having served 16 months on remand, it means he will serve eight years for each.

Each of the sentences will run co-currently, the court ruled.

Kitatta who was arrested in January 2018 was on Monday convicted together with his bodyguard Sowali Ngobi and Ibrahim Ssekajja.

The army court also convicted the two of unlawful possession of military equipment including headgear and uniforms which are a monopoly of the defence forces.

On Tuesday morning the court chaired by Lt.Gen. Andrew Gutti ruled that crimes committed by people holding fire arms illegally are rampant and sentenced each of them to the maximum sentence of 10 years imprisonment.

The army court however deducted a period of one year and three months before sentencing Kitatta to 8 years for each of the two counts of unlawful possession of fire arms.

The same punishment was also given to Ngobi Sowali,Kitatta's bodyguard.