By Mulengera Reporters
Led by Abdul Salaam Waiswa, a team of prosecution lawyers from Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) have assured the Makindye-based Standards, Wildlife & Utilities Court Chief Magistrate Gladys Kamasanyu that they have compelling evidence to prove their case and secure the conviction of the 30-year-old Kisekka Market mechanic who on the night of 12th last month was caught red handed vandalizing and trying to steal telecommunications equipment at Matuga.
The suspect, who faces 10 years in prison upon conviction (since this is the second time he is committing the same offence having first been convicted and sentenced in 2022), is by the names of Quarish Yasiin Lubowa Ssegirinya. He lives in Kibuye and works at Kampala’s Kisekka Market which is renowned for selling stolen items and spare parts.
THE VANDALISM CASE: Because such vandalism and theft cases, targeting telecom masts, have lately been rampant, security has been conducting night operations to catch the culprits and that’s how Ssegirinya’s luck ran out on the night of 12th May. Such vandalism, targeting manly equipment belonging to the US company called American Tower Corporation, is crippling the telecom industry and costing investors billions of shillings in having to replace vandalized systems and also in terms of lost business resulting from the resultant network disruptions.
The prosecution case is that, working along with others still at large, Ssegirinya on the night of 12th May 2024 gained unauthorized access to the ATC telecommunications towers or masts site inside which he vandalized the generators before proceeding to extract several parts and other valuable equipment. In that very month, four other towers and telecom masts had been vandalized and rendered inoperative in that same Matuga neighborhood.
The crime scene where all this Ssegirinya mischief happened was Kigowa village (along Kampala-Gulu Highway). The exact location is found at Kigowa-Namakonkome site Matuga parish Kasangati Town Council in Wakiso district. The generator, whose parts were vandalized and extracted, is owned and operated by ATC.
Acting on behalf of the state of Uganda, the UCC lawyers have since charged Ssegirinya with willfully and unlawfully accessing and vandalizing ATC’s generator contrary to the relevant provisions of the Penal Code Act and the UCC Act. He committed both trespass and theft, both of which are offences under the Penal Code Act. That Ssegirinya and his accomplishes had clear intent to vandalize and steal the impugned generator parts from the mast site.
At some point, Ssegirinya (having realized there are even pictures and other pieces of evidence placing him at the crime scene) had admitted being at the mast site that same night but incoherently claimed he had been delivered there, by people he didn’t disclose, against his will.
He claimed that he was just put inside a vehicle and involuntarily driven there by people he didn’t disclose. He also asserted that even when he was on site and is aware of the vandalism that was occasioned that night, he personally didn’t participate in the actual destruction or damaging of the generator. He attempted to accept being at the scene while at the same time denying the other elements required for prosecution to prove the offence of theft and criminal trespass.
Now, having given up on the possibility of any plea-bargaining deal, the UCC prosecutors say they are prepared to adduce incriminating evidence to prove to the presiding magistrate Gladys Kamasanyu that indeed Ssegirinya committed the offences and deserves to be given the maximum sentence of 10 years to serve as deterrent to tame the rising tide of vandalism.
According to Dr. Abdul Salaam Waiswa, who heads Legal & Advisory Services at UCC, the prosecution intends and is ready to produce up to 5 witnesses whose evidence will prove to Court beyond reasonable doubt that Ssegirinya is guilty as charged and qualifies to be sentenced to serving for 10 years in prison. Ten years is the maximum sentence for such repeat offenders as is prescribed under the UCC Act.
UCC’s five witnesses will be led to give evidence that will demonstrate to the satisfaction of court that on the fateful night, Ssegirinya (who was with two others who fled and ran away as he himself got arrested at the crime scene) vandalized several generator parts which included air cleaner, temperature sensor, radiator, the radiator cap, the alternator, horse pipes, the injector pump, generator fan and the aviator pump besides committing theft of generator fuel.
All these vandalized generator parts were recently exhibited before Court in physical form before Her Worship Gladys Kamasanyu. Glancing at all these (recovered) exhibits being displayed in Court caused Ssegirinya, who had already pleaded not guilty, to seem overwhelmed, worried and regretting why he had changed his plea from guilty to not guilty.
The young man, who is a resident of Kibuye, seemed even more worried when the state prosecutors from UCC announced readiness to assemble up to 4-5 witnesses to pin him at the next Court appearance, which has since been scheduled for 23rd June.
It was also submitted in Court for the prosecution that the vandalism and generator parts that were stolen, all combined, are valued at Shs8.5m. The complainant is ATC, a company which has over the years endured colossal loss of money as a result of targeted telecom equipment vandalism, which the prosecution maintains has lately been on the increase.
Ssegirinya is a repeat offender because in 2022 he committed the similar offence in the same Matuga neighborhood and was sentenced to serve a two-year jail term which he completed in May 2023. Yet upon walking to freedom, he resumed committing similar vandalism crimes, targeting ATC masts, until the night of 12th May this very year when his luck ran out and he got arrested to face the current charges.
Indeed, during a recent court session, Her Worship Gladys Kamasanyu recognized the fact that the accused person is someone who had previously appeared before her Utility court to defend himself against similar vandalism charges. Yet so sophisticated and hardened in his crime enterprise is Ssegirinya that he had attempted to conceal his identity by disclosing different names to the Police law enforcement officers who arrested him on the night of 12th May.
He had indicated to them that he is called Quarish Ssegirinya so that it’s not easily realized that this person is the same as Yasiin Lubowa who was previously convicted and sentenced to a jail term over similar vandalism charges. Her Worship Gladys Kamasanyu, at the instigation of the UCC lawyers, got the accused person to accept that he was one and same and that’s how all his aliases ended up being reflected or added on the amended charge sheet as to the identity of the accused person.
Dr. Abdul Salaam Waiswa says that vandalism is a reality that has grown into such a big problem not only for UCC as the regulator and ATC, it’s licensee. Waiswa says that the same slows down economic activities, progress and transformation of Uganda as a country.
That the moment vital telecommunications infrastructure, such as telecom masts/towers get vandalized, ordinary Ugandans or telecom services users (whose consumer rights UCC is mandated to protect) ultimately suffer because the network gets disrupted and customers can’t make phone calls, can’t receive proper/clear TV signals or even effectively communicate via Apps like WhatsApp.
Dr. Abdul Salaam Waiswa also explains that internet connectivity gets disrupted and even online banking transactions can’t be effectively undertaken or made. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
