President Yoweri Museveni has granted pardons to 200 inmates, including Jimmy Lwamafa, the former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Public Service.
KAMPALA, UGANDA | NOW THEN DIGITAL — President Yoweri Museveni has granted pardons to 200 inmates, including former Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Public Service, Jimmy Lwamafa, who has been serving a sentence since 2016.
The pardons were issued on humanitarian grounds and public health considerations, as per the President’s constitutional powers under Article 121(1).
” In the exercise of power vested in me under article 121 ( 1) of the Constitution of the public of Uganda 1995 has amended and on the advise of advisory committee on the prerogative Mercy, I hereby grant pardon to the person’s below on public health and humanitarian ground,” President Museveni said in his pardon letter to prisons.
Lwamafa, along with Kiwanuka Kunsa and Christopher Obey, was convicted for financial loss, abuse of office, neglect of duty, embezzlement, and connivance to defraud the Ugandan government. Their sentences ranged from 5 to 10 years.
The decision to pardon Lwamafa, who is in poor health and of advanced age, recognizes his long service in the Ministry of Public Service and his contribution to the country.
Frank Baine, the Prisons spokesperson, explained that only 200 out of 1,800 inmates submitted for consideration were granted pardons.
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“He falls among three categories of those pardoned. He is among the elderly and has not been so well but most importantly, he had also put his life to work for this country for many years and on humanitarian grounds he qualified for pardon,” said Baine.
The criteria for selection included finishing the appeal process, being capital offenders who served at least 50% of their sentences, pregnant and nursing mothers who served at least 50% of their sentences, terminally ill inmates who served a quarter of their sentences, and elderly inmates who served at least 50% of their sentences.
The pardoned inmates will be released without conditions, a move aimed at reducing prison congestion.
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