The Magistrate's Court has remanded two Mubende Municipality officials to Kaweeri Prison over allegations of extorting money from vendors at Mubende Central Market.
The Assistant Town Clerk for West Division, Francis Xavier Katumba, and the West Division Health Officer, Hakim Ssentongo, were on January 7, 2026 produced before Chief Magistrate Norbert Ssajjabbo following their arrest by the State House Anti-Corruption Unit the previous evening.
Court heard that the two officials face two counts related to the alleged fraudulent solicitation of money from a market vendor.
Reading the charges, Chief Magistrate Ssajjabbo told the accused that the first count was cheating, contrary to Section 287 of the Penal Code Act.
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"You are both charged with two offences. The first offence is cheating, contrary to Section 287 of the Penal Code Act," Ssajjabbo said.
"It is alleged that the two of you, together with others still at large, between the months of April and July 2025 in Mubende District, being members of the Mubende Central Market Allocation Committee, fraudulently obtained Shs 2 million from Moses Bisobolwa by tricking him that the money was meant to allocate him a stall at Mubende Central Market, whereas not."
The second count was conspiracy to defraud, contrary to Section 289 of the Penal Code Act.
"The second offence is conspiracy to defraud, contrary to Section 289 of the Penal Code Act. It is alleged that the two of you, between April and July 2025 within Mubende District, being members of the Mubende Central Market Allocation Committee, conspired to defraud Moses Bisobolwa of Shs 2 million," the magistrate read.
Both Katumba and Ssentongo pleaded not guilty to the charges.
State Attorney Amza Muzige informed court that investigations into the matter are still ongoing and that other suspects connected to the alleged extortion are yet to be arrested.
He told court that the prosecution had brought the accused before the magistrate to comply with the constitutional requirement to produce suspects in court within 48 hours.
"Investigations are still ongoing, and the charges may possibly be amended to offences under the Anti-Corruption Act, which would require the matter to be transferred to the Anti-Corruption Court.
However, we produced the accused before court to comply with the 48-hour rule," Muzige said.
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He added that security agencies are still pursuing other individuals linked to the alleged scheme and asked court to consider transferring the matter once investigations are complete.
"There are more people connected to this matter, and investigations are still ongoing, so we pray that the matter is transferred to the Anti-Corruption Court," he said.
Chief Magistrate Ssajjabbo adjourned the case to February 3, 2026, and ordered that the accused be remanded to Kaweeri Prison until that date.
The case arises from complaints by traders at Mubende Central Market, which was commissioned by President Museveni in April 2025 to provide organised trading space and improve livelihoods.
Several vendors have since alleged that some municipal officials demanded money in exchange for allocation of stalls and lockups.
Concerns over the management of the market were also raised at the political level earlier this week.
On January 6, 2026, the Minister for Local Government, Raphael Magyezi, was informed by vendors during his visit to Mubende that they had paid large sums of money to officials without being issued receipts.
In response to the complaints, Minister Magyezi promised to deploy a team of experts from his ministry to investigate the allegations surrounding the allocation of stalls at the market.
