Kampala businessman and rice trader Farouk Nsubuga has cried out for assistance after a lady who claimed to have connections to State House as threatened to harm him over a deal to sell scrap generated from the construction of Karuma hydroelectric dam.
The lady, Nsubuga said, first identified herself as “Katushabe from State House. |But he later learnt that her real names are Christine Mbabazi. She is the lady one who publicly claimed to be late AIGP Felix Kaweesi’s girlfriend after his gruesome murder in 2017.
A fearful Nsubuga said he had won the contract to sell scrap generated from Karuma dam in December 2022 after going through a competitive bidding process.
“After winning the tender, I received a call from a one Katushabe saying we should do business together,” Nsubuga said.
Nsubuga said that she told her they needed to first draft an agreement and thereafter, she had to deposit at least Shs2 billion within one week. The woman said she had the money and organized to meet him.
When Mbabazi came to Nsubuga’s office in Nakulabye, she came with an Indian businessman who she identified as a business partner.
“We drafted the agreement and I told them to deposit Shs2 billion in my account if they were serious. They paid Shs2 million to my lawyer as legal fees for drafting the agreement,” Nsubuga said.
Later the Indian businessman came back and told me he had failed to find the Shs2 billion so he withdrew from the deal.
“The same woman came with another businessman, this time a Ugandan and said this one had money. That is when I started smelling a rat,” Nsubuga said.
Nsubuga claimed after all these attempts failed, Mbabazi went to Karuma and tried to snatch the contract from him but this too failed.
Nsubuga says Mbabazi then went to Old Kampala Police station and reported that he (Nsubuga) had taken her Shs2 million (the money paid to the lawyer for legal fees) and that he had threatened her.
“The good thing is that the OC at Old Kampala is my friend and knows my character. I went there and explained everything and they told me that I had no case,” Nsubuga said
Mbabazi, Nsubuga says, then started calling him relentlessly threatening to harm him if he did not do business with her.
“She told me she is powerful and connected to State House that is why she is guarded by soldiers,” Nsubuga said.
But Nsubuga told her off and told her to use legal channels if she feels aggrieved in any way.
Mbabazi declined to talk to us and switched off her phone when we tried to seek her side of the story.