By Keefa Nuwahereza
Presidential aspirant Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu aka Bobi Wine, who is a Member of Parliament for Kyadondo East constituency, is facing arrest any time from now, after court issued summons agaisnt him over allegations of forgery and uttering false documents.
Bobi Wine’s summons come a few days after city lawyer Godfrey Male Mabirizi filed a case in the Chief Magistrates Court accusing Bobi Wine of allegedly uttering false documents to register as Member of Parliament and Presidential Aspirant for the 2021 election.
Mabirizi challenges a discrepancy in the actual date of birth on Bobi Wine’s……… documents which doesn’t tally with the date on his other documents.
The summons issued by the Chief Magistrates Court at Wakiso, vide case file No. No. 598 of 2020, reads in part thus;
UGANDA [Private Prosecution by MALE. H MABIRIZI K. KIWANUKA….PROSECUTOR.
VERSUS
KYAGULANYI SSENTAMU ROBERT ……..ACCUSED
CRIMINAL SUMMONS
TO:
KYAGULANYI SSENTAMU ROBERT MALE ADULT, RESIDENT Of MAGERE-KITO, KASANGATI TOWN COUNCIL, WAKISO DISTRICT
WHEREAS your attendance is necessary to answer Charges of:
I. Giving False Information, Contrary to Section 115(a) of The Penal Code Act;
2. Obtaining Registration by false Pretence contrary to section 312 of The Penal Code Act; and
3. Uttering false documents contrary to Sections 315 a 347 of The Penal Code Act.
You we hereby Commanded by Goveinment to appear in this Court on the 16th Day of September 2020 at 10:00 or soon thereafter as the case can be heard.
Herein Fail Not.
This summons has been issued on application of the PROSECUTION.
Dated this 1st Day of September, 2020
CHIEF MAGISTRATE/ MAGISTRATE GRADE 1”
However, by the time of filing this story, Bobi Wine, who is aspiring for the presidency on the National Unity Platform (NUP) ticket, was yet to issue a response to the summons.
It should however be noted that on Monday Bobi Wine issued a statement indicating that variance in the date of birth on his documents was a mistake committed by the Parliament of Uganda which registered a date of birth on his profile which is different from that on his other documents.
Mabirizi, petitioned the Electoral Commission on August 21, demanding to see Bobi Wine’s academic papers and seeking a caveat against his nomination.
Mabirizi raised a couple of issues in his petition among which he contends that there is no way Bobi Wine who claims to be 38 years old could have finished his Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) in 1998. The UACE is the minimum requirement for one to run for president.
Logically, the average number of years that a Ugandan spends in school up to that stage, means the musician-cum-politician started his school at one year of age, which Mabirizi says is impossible.
However, in an exclusive interview, Bobi Wine claimed he has always been an “extra-ordinary person” who did not study all classes like many Ugandans do.
“I should not be blamed for always being extraordinary. People who I went to school with know that I did not study all classes. For instance, I did Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) when I was in Primary Six and I passed to enter Senior One,” Bobi Wine said on Monday.
But should he fail to respond to the summons, court will have no other option apart from issuing an arrest warrant for him.