President Museveni has pardoned David Chandi Jamwa, the former Managing Director of National Social Security Fund (NSSF) and 11 Defilement Convicts .
“In the exercise of the power vest in me under article 121 (1) (a) of the constitution of the republic of Uganda, 1995 as mended and on the advice of the advisory committee on the prerogative of mercy, I hereby grant to the person below, on public health and humanitarian grounds,” Museveni’s Instrument of pardon seen exclusively by Media reads in part.
“David Chandi Jamwa, Prisoner number MBP 3348/2019,” the statement adds.
The list has nine other prisoners who benefited from the president’s prerogative of mercy.
These are: Vincent Ntale, Nelson Drabo, James Omirambe, Samuel Aliama, Francis Leku, Joseph Kabila, Yoha Ayitia alias Samu, Fred Kato and Jackson Owino.
Jamwa’s woes
The Supreme Court in 2019 cancelled the bail which had been granted to Jamwa and reaffirmed a 12-year jail term handed to him by the Anti-corruption Court in 2011 for causing a 3.1 billion shillings loss to the Fund in 2007.
This followed the decision of majority justices of 3-2 who upheld as legal the 12-year jail term handed to Jamwa by the Anti-Corruption Court in 2011 and later confirmed by the Court of Appeal in 2018
The then High court judge John Bosco Katusi convicted Jamwa of pre-maturely selling NSSF treasury bonds at a loss to then Crane Bank.
The three justices insisted that it was wrong for Jamwa to single handedly sell the bonds to a cheaper buyer after bypassing Standard Chartered Bank which was a primary dealer with NSSF and the best option then would have been rejecting this transaction so as to give the bonds a few days to mature and gain their real value.
The court said it did not find any evidence to the effect that there was a collective decision by NSSF to pre-maturely sell the bonds or that the fund was in dire need of money for its managing Director to reach such a negligent decision well knowing it would result in loss of money.
At both Supreme and the lower courts, Jamwa had tried to convince the judges that the sale of bonds was a collective activity but the Supreme Court was not convinced by his explanation.
President Museveni as the head of state is the only person with the powers to pardon inmates.
Museveni has been pardoning prisoners normally at the end or start of the year.
In 2022, Museveni pardoned 79 inmates held in prisons across Uganda.
