Mr. Geoffrey Sseremba, an undersecretary in the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) has turned himself in before the Anti-Corruption court to face charges of abuse of office. He is accused of causing a Shs4.4 billion loss to the government.
Seremba now joins a group of other six officials from the OPM who were charged last week before the same court for allegedly stealing money from government that was meant to facilitate peace initiative programmes in Karamoja sub-region.
According to his lawyer Najib Mujuzi, the official could not appear in court last week because he was admitted at May Clinic in Wandegeya with acute diarrhea, ulcers, and hypertension.
This prompted presiding Grade one magistrate, Abert Asiimwe to threaten him with an arrest warrant if he does not appear in court today, Wednesday June 21, 2023.
Seremba honoured the court summons and presented himself before magistrate Asiimwe to whom he has pleaded not guilty to the offences.
He has however told the magistrate that he is still very weak and has been advised to visit the hospital daily for the next two weeks as an out-patient.
Seremba, who was named a prosecution star witness against Karamoja Junior minister, Agnes Nandutu has accordingly applied for bail which has been granted and set at Shs20 million shillings in cash after prosecution’s Rogers Kinobe did not object to his application.
He was ordered to surrender the land title for his residence in Kiryamuli-Kajansi and his passport. Sseremba has also produced 5 sureties including his fellow undersecretaries from 2 ministries, a Chief Administrative Officer(CAO), and his brother Mark Sseremba, a Human resource assistant commissioner at the Ministry of Agriculture.
Prosecution states that between February and June last year while performing their respective duties in the office of the OPM, Seremba and his deputy Deogratius Masigazi approved payments of monies to various OPM staff without any proper work plan or genuine activities to be carried out, well knowing that this act would cause financial loss to the government.
It is stated that the stolen monies were meant for coordinating various peace initiative activities in the Karamoja region which were never conducted and thus the suspects failed to account for it.
The group returns to court on July 26, 2023, for mention of their case as court orders prosecution to expedite the remaining part of investigations.
