Balunywa granted Shs 15 million bail

Former Makerere University Business School (MUBS) principal, Prof Waswa Balunywa, has been granted bail by the Anti-Corruption court after spending three days on remand in Luzira Prison over allegations of abuse of office.

Chief magistrate Rachael Nakyazze released Balunywa on two separate case files after finding his sureties substantial and emphasising the legal principle of presumption of innocence. He was ordered to pay a combined total of Shs 15 million in cash, while his sureties were bonded at varying amounts.

Balunywa, who served as principal of MUBS for more than two decades until his retirement in 2022, faces charges related to irregular staff recruitment. In the first case, the prosecution alleges that in March 2023, he arbitrarily appointed three individuals, James Arike, Nimrod Kakayi, and Nathan Niwagira, as administrative assistants despite their failure to meet the minimum academic qualifications.

The accused, prosecutors argue, placed an ineligible financial burden on the government. He faces these charges jointly with the acting human resource director of MUBS, Jacqueline Namaganda, who was granted bail earlier.

In the second case, the court heard that between 2020 and 2023, Balunywa irregularly recruited more than 200 staff members, including academic, administrative, and support staff. According to the prosecution, such appointments could only lawfully be made by the appointments committee.

Both cases form part of a wider investigation into a Shs 53 billion corruption scandal that has spread across various government institutions, including the Uganda Police Force and the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority.

At least 15 suspects have so far appeared before the courts, with more expected to face trial. In the first case, Balunywa was granted bail on a cash payment of Shs 5 million, with his sureties bonded at Shs 15 million each.

In the second case, he was released on a cash bail of Shs 10 million, while each of his sureties was bonded at Shs 100 million. Balunywa presented a strong team of sureties, among them his brother, Dr Muhammad Ngoma, vice chancellor of Kampala International University (KIU); Prof Sudi Nangoli, managing director of Uganda Printing and Publishing Corporation; his son, Ali Balunywa, sales director at Airtel Uganda; and his sister, Hajjati Zawudi Ndifuna, director of Mbogo Schools.

Others included Busoga Kingdom’s deputy prime minister, Osman Noor Ahmed, Kigulu County South MP, Milton Muwuma, his wife, Asha Bukenya, and Hajji Faisal Ndifuna, director of Kinaawa High School.

They submitted identification documents, bank statements, and land titles to prove their capacity to stand as sureties. His lawyers, Shamim Nalule and Asuman Matovu, argued that Balunywa is a respected and law-abiding Ugandan citizen who had no prior criminal record.

They pointed to his advanced age of 69 years and noted that he voluntarily presented himself to court despite first learning of the case through media reports rather than an official summons. To demonstrate his willingness to comply with court conditions, he surrendered his passport and offered a land title in Iganga district.

The prosecution, represented by principal assistant DPP Caroline Nabaasa, had objected to the first bail application, questioning the suitability of his sureties, many of whom were close relatives or younger than him. She also noted that he had only appeared in court after criminal summons were issued, pointing out that earlier attempts to reach him failed because his phone numbers were switched off.

However, in the second application, she did not oppose bail, though she urged the court to impose stringent conditions since some sureties were from outside the court’s jurisdiction. After reviewing submissions from both sides, magistrate Nakyazze ruled in favour of granting bail, citing the principle of presumption of innocence and the substantiality of the sureties presented.

She scheduled the pre-trial hearing for the second file to begin on October 15, 2025, at 9:00 a.m. Balunywa and his co-accused, Jacqueline Namaganda, are among 30 individuals under investigation in the alleged scandal.

His case, given his prominence in academia and business education, has drawn public attention and is now a defining moment in the broader debate on corruption within Uganda’s public institutions.