By Mugisha Gilbert Karengye
Elly Nuwagaba a freelance Journalist reporting from Kanungu district of western Uganda has been sued by the District commercial Officer Tom Hamujuni accusing him of defamation.
According to the Nuwagaba’s article, Hamujuni together with other two district officials swindled 35 million shillings for the presidential poverty alleviation program called Emyooga.
Troubles for Elly Nuwagaba started when a group of people held a demonstration matchin Kanungu town and headed to the district headquarters to seek for explanation on the whereabouts of their fund which they had applied for to use to inject in their businesses.
The district commercial and some other officers were discovered according to the records from the district that he withdrew the money and shared it with leaders.
Nuwagaba reported the story which went viral on different radio stations and online news.
Using his authority the commercial officer made Nuwagaba to be arrested and was detained for a period of two weeks while his friends were struggling to have him released on police bond.
According to court documents seen by our reporter, Elly Nuwagaba will appear in court on 20th September this year.
However Nuwagaba says there is nothing wrong with writing a story which has facts and that leaders are just harassing journalists as usual in Uganda because they do not want to be held accountable over their public funds.
