It took the intervention of the maverick city lawyer Male Mabirizi to compromise and convince the leadership of ward C-4 in Murchison Bay Prison for incarcerated Director of Communication and Corporate Affairs in parliament Chris Obore to secure a bed where he slept on his first day on remand.
On Thursday, Esther Asiimwe the Anti-Corruption magistrate remanded Obore together with other parliament bosses who included Daniel Adilo, the director of human resource; Leonard Okema, the executive secretary in the Office of the Speaker; Rajab Kaaya Ssemalulu, the principal research officer; Emmanuel Emuron to Murchison Bay Prison until the 07th of July 2026.
Highly placed prison sources revealed to Ono Bwino that during his maiden speech to inmates, Obore told them that his remand was a shock to him given that he had not prepared for prison that is why he didn’t come with special gifts for them.
He narrated that his criminal summon was delivered to him on Thursday morning and he was directed to go with them to the offices of the Inspector General of Government (IGG) to record a statement on the matters which were under investigations.
More Read
“I’m telling you guys, I left my phone in my office drawer because those detectives told me that after recording the statement, they were going to release me on bond. And the last phone call I made was asking my lawyer to find me at IGG’s office to guide me while I’m recording the statement,” a prison source quoted Obore.
The source added that because Mabirizi also sleeps in the same ward as Obore and he is highly respected by fellow inmates, he pleaded with the RP and ward leader to be accommodative of Obore and not to leave him to be squeezed with other commoner inmates.
The ward leader issued a directive to create space where a small mattress was fixed for Obore to sleep.
Obore appreciated and praised Mabirizi for being a good man and encouraged other inmates to support his Rule of Law activism.
Obore also struggled to get what to eat because the prison bus reached Luzira very late when other inmates were done with supper.
He was later helped by an inmate who gave him some of his eats and drinks.
Ono Bwino has been told that before boarding the prisons bus, prison wardens briefed a desperate and panicky Obore while he was still at the Court premises to get something to eat because in prison, eats and drinks from outside are not allowed inside the prison apart from medicine which is also first authorised by prisons top leadership.
“He looked confused and responded by telling prison warders that he was okay,” a source told Ono Bwino.
Obore a veteran investigative journalist and a blue-eyed boy to embattled former speaker of parliament Annet Anita Among was charged with embezzlement, money laundering and causing financial loss involving more than Shs37bn.
According to the charge sheet, Obore is accused of embezzling Shs5.253bn, Adilo Shs14.609bn, Okema Shs3.489bn, Rajab Kaaya Ssemalulu Shs 2.170bn, Emmanuel Emuron Okwi Shs1.105bn, Stella Itute the personal assistant to Among Shs75m and Vincent Otebata Shs5.253bn
Prosecution alleges that the money belonged to Parliament of Uganda and was accessed by the accused persons by virtue of their respective offices.
Prosecution added that investigations into the matter are still ongoing.
