The former Registrar at Uganda Nurses and Midwives Council, Nassuna Rebecca (pictured) has been charged before the Anti-corruption court with 10 counts that include abuse of office and causing Government a financial loss of over Shs1bn in the procurement of gazetting of the Nurses and Midwives Register in 2018.
Prosecution’s Caroline Tabaro alleges that Nassuna, the 57-year old Nursing Officer together with two Ministry of Health Procurement Officers; Robert Musinguzi and Steven Sseppuuya flouted PPDA Laws and Regulations when they committed and spent the said money in the said Procurement which was not provided for in the approved budget of Uganda Nurses and Midwives Council.
Nassuna is further accused of having initiated the Procurement of Conference Services for UNMC staff retreat without confirming the availability of funds; and her co-accused persons went ahead to prepare PPDA forms after services had been rendered with signatures not from the service provider Hotel Paradise of Nile Ltd; and they ended up presenting a fictitious evaluation report to the contracts committee.
Nassuna and Sseppuuya have appeared before Grade One Magistrate Albert Asiimwe and denied the charges; while Criminal Summons have been issued to Musinguzi Robert to appear in court on 9th/September/2020 to answer to the same charges.
Because of the services she has rendered to this country, Magistrate Asiimwe said he could not imprison Nassuna much as she is an accused person.
He therefore granted her bail with orders to deposit Shs5m, together with her valid passport in court while her sureties were bonded in Shs50m not cash to ensure that she returns to court on September 9th 2020 as investigations into her case continue.
Sseppuuya has been ordered to deposit Shs3m cash bail and his sureties bonded in Shs30m not cash to ensure that he also returns to court on September 9th 2020.
More effort should be put on ground to avoid corruption