A section of the Ugandan public spent the weekend questioning whether the arrest of the country’s State Minister for labor was done in good faith.
The country’s police on Saturday, arrested Herbert Kabafunzaki, the State Minister for labour, employment and industrial relations for allegedly soliciting a Shs30 million bribe.
However, social political commentators including veteran journalist were skeptical about the whole incident.
“Now I am not suggesting that this minister is innocent. But was he actually caught “red-handed” receiving the bribe? I know Hamid very well and I would not put my money on his integrity. He has succeeded in diverting public attention from allegations of sexual assault to the minister taking a bribe. He knows how easily gullible the public is and he is winning. Not with me,” Mwenda wrote on Sunday.
He added, “Where is the evidence the minister asked for a bribe? A friend sent me an audio where the minister asks to meet Hamid but he clearly says he doesn’t want anything from him. I agree there are serious ethical problems with the minister asking to meet privately with a suspect he is investigating. But knowing Hamid my antenna of suspicion is up.”
Kabafunzaki, who is also the Member of Parliament for Rukiga County in Kabale District, was arrested from Serena Hotel in Kampala where he had gone to pick the money.
A team of detectives from the Kampala Metropolitan Police Criminal Investigations Unit, following intelligence information, caught the minister red-handed recieving the bribe.
Preliminary investigations reveal that the Minister was soliciting the bribe from Hamid Muhammed, the proprietor of AYA Group of Companies who owns Hilton Hotel in Nakasero.
