RICHARD OLWENYI
The US bribery case against Foreign Affairs minister Sam Kutesa now heads to the Ugandan judiciary with Justice Andrew Bashaija appointed to hear the case .
The judiciary confirmed yesterday that it has the capacity to prosecute Kutesa and warned against any influence peddling from interested parties.
Kutesa is accused of receiving a bribe of up to $500,000 (about Shs1.9b) from a-would-be investor, who was convicted for corruption in a US court last month.
In late December, a concerned citizen petitioned court seeking to have Kutesa tried over these allegations.
Ahead of the trial, anti-corruption civil society groups maintained that Kutesa should step down as minister.
A couple of weeks ago, the Attorney General exonerated Kutesa of any wrong doing after he was implicated by a US court of bribery allegations.
While everyone would have thought it was over, the judiciary recently appointed Justice Andrew Bashaija the head of the civil division of the high court to prosecute him.