By Our Reporters
Bikanga Muzamir, the wealthy city lawyer the military had last month picked and detained concerning the Susan Magara kidnap and murder, has spoken out praising the Ugandan army for not subjecting him to torture for the period he was in their custody. “Those guys were very courteous and treated me decently during the detention. I was kept in Kireka and was interrogated but if it was police, I would be dead by now. I was not tortured and all they wanted was to use me to establish if I knew anything about that crime and when they discovered I was innocent, they released me on police bond and I’m now a free man going about my business,” said Bikanga who was picked from his favorite hangout of Serena hotel’s Bambara bar. In a phone interview with this reporter, Bikanga blamed his woes on business rivals whom he said have always been envious of his business successes that always come effortlessly. “When we go to school we choose what we want to be and where to specialize. I’m Muzamir Bikanga and I chose to specialize in being an investment lawyer and I have good international clients who assign me work in Uganda and they pay me good commission. That is how I earn my money but they are always saying where does he get all this money?” Bikanga said adding that he knows for sure that his arrest resulted from envious business rivals both in Bunyoro kingdom and Kampala. “I always get investors wanting to invest in Uganda and they hire me to do paper work for them and earn a good commission. This annoys many people and once my cousin was among those arrested in Usafi mosque, such haters rode on that to give false information to security and thank God I was thoroughly investigated and found innocent.” He said that during his detention, the military searched his home in Najjera and found nothing linking him to the murder. The only connection was that one of the man arrested during the USAFI mosque raid was his cousin, Bikanga explained. “They had my everything; my phones, my computers and passport which they have all returned back to me on realizing there is nothing implicating me on any wrongdoing.” Bikanga, who was in his 4th floor Ham Tower Makerere building as he spoke to this reporter, added that having got back his passport he would soon travel to South Africa to follow up with three major investors that had previously assigned him work to do in Uganda. “One of them wants to explore gold mining opportunities in Bunyoro and another is about exploration for Iron ore still in Bunyoro. But the most important deal that sparked the anger of my rivals concerns Utl. I was contacted by Mayburg of South Africa as an investor who is deeply interested in investing in UTL. I was just about to embark on that assignment when I was pounced upon while at Serena. Good enough my international clients know my integrity and this [Magara] thing didn’t erode their confidence in me. I will be travelling to South Africa to finalize that work regarding UTL because my client is a serious investor that is deeply interested.” Bikanga said all these commission-based assignments are given to him through his law firm called Barrack & Co Legal Associates. This law firm is based on Ham Towers 4th Floor Makerere University. “But I’m also into real estate dealing under my other company called Kigaju Holdings Ltd. God has been good to me that all my things are moving well and this annoys many people both in Kampala and Bunyoro. This is why I had to be framed.” He said being a loyal NRM cadre, he had forgiven his tormentors and wouldn’t be suing government for the manner in which the military detention diminished his reputation as a young businessman. “The only thing that would be strange is for them to arrest me on the account of the fact that my cousin was among those grabbed from the USAFI mosque. That is strange because criminal liability is personal meaning there is no way his personal crimes can be attributed to a relative because he is an adult capable of criminal liability,” he explained.
