President Museveni Pardons 200 Convicts

President Yoweri Museveni has pardoned 200 inmates, including Jimmy Lwamafa, the former Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Public Service. 

The decision was made based on Article 121 (1) (a) of the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda, 1995, and followed the advice of the Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy.

Uganda Prisons Service spokesperson, Frank Baine made the announcement, with the pardons having been issued on August 20. "The pardon was granted on public health and humanitarian grounds," Baine said.

"He is over 65 years old and he falls in the category of the elderly. In addition, he has been not well and he qualifies to be released under the terminally ill grounds," Baine added.

Lwamafa and his co-convicts, Christopher Obey (deceased), the former principal accountant, and Stephen Kiwanuka Kunsa, the former commissioner for the compensation department, were originally sentenced in 2016.

They were found guilty of charges including causing financial loss, abuse of office, false accounting, conspiracy to defraud, and diversion of public funds amounting to sh88 billion.