By Mulengera Reporters
At the beginning of this year 2025, Ernest Edengel, a primary school teacher aged 27, was arrested after spending years extorting money from job and scholarships-seekers, while claiming to be ex-Agule County MP Francis Mukula.
He had landed on someone whose name was exactly similar to the honorable’s and used an MTN and Airtel simcards registered in that person’s names to defraud hundreds of unsuspecting Ugandans in his native Pallisa district and nearby areas like Kumi.
Upon being arrested, he was arraigned and charged by state prosecutors from UCC who have been trying and adducing evidence against him at the Makindye-based Utilities Court before Her Worship Gladys Kamasanyu.
For all these months, Edengel maintained his innocence and bullishly grilled and cross-examined prosecution witnesses who included victims from whom money was defrauded and Police officers who conducted the investigations leading to his arrest.
One hot afternoon, he nearly made the prosecution witness Josephine Alupo, a Policewoman, cry. She is the one who led the operation for his arrest at a school at Busika Luwero from where he was harvested while conducting a lesson. He was caught with many fictitious simcards in his pockets, which would be used in his extortion enterprise.
Edengel, who has no lawyer and therefore has been representing himself, had tough questions for the witness, all aimed at discrediting the prosecution’s witness-namely policewoman Josephine Alupo. He attempted to make her look like a liar who didn’t know what she was talking about-and there was plenty of laughter in Court that entire afternoon.
But as more prosecution witnesses were brought in, including Hon Mukula himself, curtains began to fall on Edengel who clearly realized he wasn’t going to win the case.
So somewhere in November, the man who used mainly MTN line 0786048140 to effect his mischief while making his victims think he was the MP Francis Mukula, cracked and reached out to the state prosecutors from UCC.
He indicated to them he wanted to change his plea from innocent to guilty and enter a plea-bargain deal of some sort. This saves him time spent on remand and get sentenced so that he serves out his convicted jail term instead of prolonging his stay in Luzira trying to defend himself on a case he has concluded he won’t be winning.
Accordingly, during the Court session of Monday 22nd December, Edengel (who risks maximum sentencing because the offences he committed are lately on the rise and there is need for UCC to protect the public while achieving the deterrence objective) stepped forward to confirm to the Magistrate he had thought about all his options and wants to plead guilty.
In the presence of UCC lawyers and other Court users, the Magistrate took him through all the 12 counts that had been preferred against him (including impersonation, using someone else’s phone number to defraud and obtaining money by false presentences etc). He accepted all of them.
The Magistrate directed that the prosecutors from UCC return to Court on Monday 12th January prepared to conduct what in law is called the “brief facts statement procedure,” whereafter the accused person will be formally convicted and subsequently sentenced.
Holding himself out to be the real Honourable Francis Mukula, Edengel would use the phone to approach his victims while promising many of them jobs under the Teso region local governments (such as agricultural officer positions) and also under education and health service commissions.
Upcountry districts like Edengel’s native Pallisa tend to have many qualified teachers and medical personnel who (upon being exploited in private schools and clinics) get desperate to access the government payroll and get into government service where decent pay and job security are well assured. This exactly is what Edengel took advantage of to solicit millions of shillings from unsuspecting victims.
Many sold their plots of land, goats and cows or even took loans to be able to pay the money Edengel would be asking for while holding himself out to be the honourable Mukula who is supposed to be a very connected person, having previously served as an MP. In some cases, poor parents sold their property to pay Edengel who had promised them scholarships for their children through his fictitious NGO.
Having waited for the promised jobs in vain, some of the victims have since left Uganda for odd jobs in Arab countries and Europe. Indeed, one victim is now based in Europe for kyeyo from where he testified and gave evidence via zoom technology.
Some of the victims include Daniel Eyeti (Shs450,000), Peter Osron (Shs580,000), James Ojangole, Rose Nsubika, a parent from whom he extorted Shs1.5m for her children’s scholarship which never materialized. This can be a lot of money for poor community members in Uganda’s poverty-stricken rural countryside.
Even after pleading guilty, it remains complicated for Edengel because besides him being sentenced to a jail term, all these victims remain entitled to being compensated for the hard-earned money they lost due to his fraudulent activities.
During the Monday session, Edengel totally admitted to everything as it was all being read out to him for his plea of guilty to be specific and well-informed. Hon Francis Mukula and other victims are grateful to the state prosecutors from UCC and the police investigators involved for the job well done as Edengel admits guilt and prepares to serve his sentence which the Magistrate will be proclaiming early next year. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
