Kagole Kivumbi’s continued forced leave is illegal- court rules

 The Civil Division of the High Court in Kampala has ruled that the continued forced leave for former Judiciary Permanent Secretary,  Kagole Kivumbi is illegal.

Accused of misappropriation of funds in the Auditor General’s report for the  Financial Year 2017/2018, Kivumbi was last year in July sent on forced leave by the head of the Public Service, John Mitala.

However, in his ruling on Tuesday, Justice Musa Ssekaana said the forced leave was at first legal but after some time, it ceased to be one, adding that his rights are currently being violated by the same.

“The directive sending Mr. Kagole Kivumbi on forced leave was therefore legal and reasonable in the initial stages by the appointing authority but it has since become illegal and unreasonable since it has become an indefinite forced leave,” the judge ruled.

He noted that there ought to be a time frame to which the forced leave ends or else it would be seen as being used for persecution.

“It ought to have been pegged for the period of leave not taken by Mr. Kagole Kivumbi and this would have expedited the investigations into the alleged financial impropriety in the Judiciary. But if the said leave has now become indefinite that would be contrary to the principles of rule of law and Constitutionalism and would amount to using lawful process for an unintended purpose.”

The case challenging Kagole Kivumbi’s forced leave was filed by lawyer Paul Mukiibi seeking to have the same quashed for being illegal but the judge said it was done in the right manner only that the period for maintaining the same had been prolonged.

He ordered that each party bears its own costs.

Kagole Kivumbi was recently tasked by the Parliamentary Accounts Committee chaired by Nandala Mafabi to explain the illegal expenditure of Shs275m in the Financial Year 2017/2018.

Relying on the Auditor General’s report, PAC also discovered that a number of suspicious transactions were carried out in the last five days of the 2017/18 financial year and that money totaling over shs1.7 billion was transferred from Bank of Uganda to several private accounts in Stanbic Bank.

In a July,2 letter to the Inspector General of Government’s office, the head of Public Service, Dr John Mitala says he has not got any update about investigations into Kivumbi’s case for over six months and this meant government was stuck with the case.