By Mulengera Reporters
Former Agule County MP Francis Mukula suffered reputational damage after a Pallisa-based primary school teacher, Ernest Edengel aged 30, successfully defrauded several area residents, in his name.
Having stolen a simcard from another Francis Mukula, Edengel over several months rang several parents, teachers and nurses claiming to be Honourable Francis Mukula whereas not. These can be desperate for scholarships for their children and for jobs in government schools and health facilities.
Especially between September 2024 and February 2025, Edengel duped many such victims to part with between Shs450,000 and Shs1m to facilitate him to connect them to the opportunities they were desiring to access. They complied thinking it was the real Honourable Mukula they were dealing with.
Edengel would use the simcard in Francis Mukula’s names to call and explain the whole thing, and another simcard registered in the names of James Ojangole (a supposed handler for the honourable) to receive the money via mobile money.
On failing to land the promised opportunities, victims began to directly confront Honourable Mukula who was clearly ignorant of what they were talking about. It was realized that they had been conned and Hon Mukula, whose name had already been disreputed, reported to UCC ED Nyombi Thembo whose staffers investigated and tracked resulting into Edengel’s arrest.
Convinced by the overwhelming evidence the UCC prosecutors corroborated, which overwhelmed Edengel into pleading guilty, trial Magistrate Gladys Kamasanyu this week convicted Edengel and sentenced him to a jail term of three years.
An overjoyed Hon Francis Mukula told the media that his experience had exposed him to hitherto unknown tracking capabilities that UCC has. He urged fellow legislators and other big people in the country, who often get targeted by Edengel-like fraudsters, to make use of the Commission as opposed to suffering silently.
“There is a lot the Commission can do to secure each one of us and at no cost. So, let’s make use of it. I’m here as the living example. Yes I was prejudiced because I couldn’t even stand for MP elections in 2026 because of the way that man had spoilt my name but I’m grateful that justice has finally been done. I know there are many colleagues out there who have similarly been prejudiced but my advice is that let’s report to UCC and get helped instead of keeping quiet,” Hon Francis Mukula told reporters moments after the Magistrate had proclaimed her ruling.
Speaking separately to the same reporters, Dr. Abdul Salaam Waiswa who heads the UCC legal team called for vigilance and caution because such offences are lately on the rise. He said that no Ugandan should just take things for granted and sit at home to relax when someone else is out there using any of the simcards registered in their names.
Thanking the anti-Edengel witnesses and victims who stepped forward and came to court to give evidence which enabled them secure a conviction, Dr. Waiswa advised Ugandans to each keep checking to ascertain if there are any simcards out there being registered and operated out there in their names-by dialling *197# followed by their respective NIN.
Dr. Waiswa explained that once existence of such has been established, such victims should quickly report to the authorities like Police and even the telecom companies to have such simcards de-activated.
Making it clear that as UCC they aren’t out to inconvenience anyone but to ensure the integrity of telecom platforms, Dr. Waiswa thanked the DPP (who keeps licensing lawyers at UCC to prosecute cases on the state’s behalf) for enabling the Commission to play a role in the combating of such crime that is made to thrive using telecom platforms.
He called on other leaders in the country to emulate Hon Francis Mukula and boldly report to the Commission whenever they get victimised by such fraudsters. He said such collaboration is the only way the Commission can effectively play its mandated role of protecting every telecom services user and consumer while tracking down those who engage in abusive conduct. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
