Ugandan MP fined for urinating in public

NP photo

By

Gloria Nakiyimba

A member of parliament in Uganda has been fined 40,000 Uganda shillings, about 10.89 US dollars, for being a public nuisance by urinating on the roadside in the capital Kampala.

Retired Colonel Ibrahim Abiriga, representing Arua Municipality, appeared before City Hall Court Grade one magistrate Beatrice Kainza on Monday and pleaded guilty to the charge of being a public nuisance.

While handing the Honorable Abiriga the fine, Grade one Magistrate Kainza noted that the strong NRM supporter did not waste the court’s time when he pleaded guilty and that being an old man he appeared remorseful for the offense.

The legislator had presented medical forms to court as evidence that he suffers from diabetes and cannot hold urine for a long time which was the case when he urinated in public.

He paid the fine, failure of which was to serve two weeks in Luzira prison.

The MP, a strong supporter of President Yoweri Museveni and advocate of the proposed amendment of Article 102[B] to remove the presidential age limit from the Constitution, was summoned to court after he was pictured urinating on the fence of the Ministry Finance on 26 September 2017.

He was clad in a yellow shirt and yellow pair of trousers. Yellow is the official party color for the ruling National Resistance Movement-NRM government to which he subscribes.

The picture went viral on social media and the act of the legislator was widely condemned by the public.

Kampala Capital City Authority’s prosecution, led by Elijah Iradukunda, had asked court to hand MP Abiriga a maximum and deterrent sentence for choosing to ignore the many places of convenience and the sensitization programs set up by the authority to keep the city clean.

Gloria Nakiyimba

Gloria has experience spanning more than five years in Journalism, particularly in field reporting, editing, newscasting and management. She is currently working with Capital Radio Limited [91.3 Capital FM and 96.3 Beat FM] as Head of News, a position she has held since 2010.

Gloria previously worked as the Kampala Correspondent for Radio France International [RFI] generating local story leads with international inference for RFI’s global audience. She also served as Political Editor for The Weekly Mail Newspaper as well as Online Content Editor for the California based Ugandan broadcaster KubutakaRadio.com.