Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Mwanga 2 Magistrates Court has issued a warrant of arrest against Moses Tumwine, one of the accused persons in the case in which nine people are accused of giving false information to police, accusing Rubaga Miracle Centre Church’s lead Pastor Robert Kayanja of sodomy.
The other accused are Peter Serugo, Reagan Ssentongo, Khalifa Labeeb, Alex Wakamala, Martins Kagolo, Israel Wasswa, Jamil Mwanda, and Aggrey Kinene.
The court presided over by Senior Principal Magistrate Grade One Adams Byarugaba issued a warrant of arrest on Friday against Tumwine, directing any police officer to arrest him on sight and bring him to court at the next session on May 5th 2025.
The same court has also issued criminal summons to Tumwine’s sureties, such that they can appear and explain why they shouldn’t be ordered to forfeit the bail bond they committed to paying in case he runs away from the trial.
The warrant was issued following a request by the Prosecution’s Chief State Attorney, Jonathan Muwaganya, who informed the Court that Tumwine has been absent three consecutive times without any valid reason, yet he keeps instructing the lawyers to represent him as well as giving new instructions to other lawyers.
Before court proceedings started, the Magistrate asked one of the accused persons, Martin, where their colleague Tumwine, commonly known as Small Pin, was, but he didn’t know. The magistrate said, “Do you want to be like Simon Peter?”
Martin replied that he knew Tumwine was aware of the court proceedings, having spoken together yesterday, and added that, to his knowledge, Tumwine had family issues with his wife, who is pregnant. However, the magistrate was unconvinced, stating that pregnancy issues are matters for doctors.
Another suspect was asked about Tumwine’s whereabouts and reported that he last talked to him, and Tumwine sounded arrogant and hostile to him.
Byarugaba then noted that if Small Pin doesn’t appear in court, his sureties should go to prison so that others learn that bail shouldn’t be used to abscond from trial. The magistrate then asked Lawyer Humphrey Tumwesigye where his client, Moses Tumwine, also known as Small Pin, was. Humphrey told the magistrate that efforts to reach him have been futile.
But Chief State Attorney Jonathan Muwaganya informed the court that despite being absent, Tumwine continued to instruct new lawyers, including Tusingwire Wesley and Ojambo, to represent him. Muwaganya prayed for a warrant of arrest against Tumwine and his sureties, arguing that they had failed to abide by their agreement with the court.
The accused persons were in 2024 found with a case to answer and ordered to start defending themselves, but to date, there have been five adjournments with accused persons making delayed tactics so as not to start their defence, according to Muwaganya.
In response, Lawyer Humphrey Tumwesigye did not object to the issuance of a warrant of arrest against his client, Tumwine Moses. However, he objected to the issuance of a warrant of arrest against his sureties. He said this is because they have never been issued with a criminal summons to come and explain and be heard by the Court.
Tumwesigye said the request by the prosecution to proceed without Tumwine is premature at this point.He said the Court hasn’t made a ruling to show that they have failed to execute a warrant of arrest to proceed without him, and that even if the warrant was not yet issued against Tumwine.
The magistrate emphasised that the court wouldn’t waste its time and resources, noting that Tumwine’s actions suggested he was deliberately absent despite being aware of the proceedings. The court warned that lawyers couldn’t keep representing ghost clients, and thus it was prudent for him to issue a warrant of arrest against Tumwine.
In his testimony in October 2024, Pastor RobertKayanjaof Rubaga Miracle Centre Church told Magistrate Byarugaba that the nine individuals falsely accused him ofsodomy. He alleged a conspiracy to frame him, linking one of the accused, Israel Wasswa, to Pastor Ssenyonga, a longtime rival.
PastorKayanjaexpressed frustration over the repeated false accusations against him, citing previous cases in 2010 and 2013 where he was falsely accused ofsodomy. He noted that in the 2010 case, five pastors – Solomon Male, Michael Kyazze, Martin Sempa, Mukalazi, and Deborah Kyomuhendo – were found guilty of falsely accusing him but were only sentenced to 100 hours of community service by the Buganda Road Chief Magistrates Court .
PastorKayanjaalso referenced the 2013 case where two individuals, Moses Muhanguzi and Ibrahim Nsubuga, falsely accused him ofsodomy. He stated that they were handed non-deterrent sentences for attempting to bribe a doctor to conclude that they had been sodomized.
The pastor declared, “Enough is enough,” and requested a deterrent sentence for his accusers, believing that a stronger punishment would deter future blackmail against other would-be accusers.
The prosecution alleges that the accused persons and others still at large on or about September 17th 2021, in Kampala District conspired together to falsely accuse PastorKayanjaof unnatural offences.
They are further accused of conspiracy to defeat Justice, commit a felony, criminal trespass and giving false information to police.
It is alleged that Serugo, Ssentongo, Khalifa, Wakamala and Kagoro, while employed in the Public Service as Police officers, gave false information to police detective IP Cotilda Nandutu, saying that PastorKayanjahad performed unnatural offences with them. The Prosecutors say they did this intentionally, knowing that they would cause the said Nandutu and police to devote time and services to investigate information they knew was false.
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