The Anti-Corruption Court has commenced the trial of 14 officials from the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) accused of causing a financial loss of more than Shs9.3 billion through the alleged issuance and use of invalid gorilla and chimpanzee tracking permits.
The case opened before Justice Michael Elubu, who admitted a series of uncontested documents presented by the prosecution as evidence in the high-profile corruption trial.
Among the documents admitted were UWA employment contracts, the Authority’s Human Resource Manual dated July 1, 2023, the Revised Financial Procedures Manual of 2016, and the Reservation and Booking System User Manual dated July 31, 2020.
The court also admitted orders authorizing the inspection and extraction of mobile money records, subscriber information, call data records, and customer verification details linked to three telephone numbers believed to be relevant to the investigations.
Justice Elubu admitted the documents as prosecution exhibits after defence lawyers raised no objections.
The prosecution team, led by Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Barbra Kawuma, alongside Chief State Attorney Edward Muhumuza and Senior State Attorney Innocent Aleto, contends that the accused officials failed to establish and enforce adequate systems to safeguard revenue generated from Uganda’s lucrative gorilla and chimpanzee tourism activities.
According to the charge sheet, Stephen Sanyi Masaba, the former Director of Tourism and Business Development at UWA, allegedly failed to implement effective revenue collection and monitoring systems, allowing invalid tracking permits to be used in protected areas between July 2020 and September 2023.
Jimmy Mugisa, the former Director of Finance and Administration, is accused of failing to maintain proper financial management systems and records necessary for the accurate tracking and accountability of tourism revenues.
Prosecutors further allege that Robert Maani, a Senior Warden responsible for accounts, failed to reconcile revenue generated from tracking permits with daily visitor records, creating loopholes that facilitated the use of fraudulent permits.
The state also accuses Leslie Muhindo, the former Head of Reservations, of manipulating the GoChimp reservation system by inserting, confirming, splitting, rescheduling and validating irregular permits for numerous visitors. Prosecutors say these actions contributed to losses amounting to hundreds of millions of shillings.
Other officials facing charges include ICT Manager Alfred Emmanuel Ndikusooka, Software Development Warden Gilbert Mwesigwa, Sales Executive Gad Ekochu, Shafik Twebaze, Rose Namutebi and Grace Mubeezi, among others. They are accused of participating in the creation, confirmation, printing, cancellation and rescheduling of invalid gorilla and chimpanzee tracking permits.
Court documents indicate that investigators uncovered a total of 1,401 invalid permits that were allegedly issued and used across various tourism destinations managed by UWA, resulting in a loss of approximately Shs9.3 billion to government.
The alleged fraud strikes at the heart of Uganda’s tourism sector, where gorilla tracking remains one of the country’s most valuable tourism products. The activity accounts for nearly 70 percent of tourism earnings, with gorilla tracking permits alone generating an estimated Shs130 billion annually.
The prosecution maintains that the accused officials either directly participated in or negligently enabled the fraudulent scheme by failing to enforce internal controls designed to protect public funds.
The hearing continues before the Anti-Corruption Court as prosecutors seek to prove the charges against the 14 officials
