2010 Boda Boda leader left with months out of 8 years to regain freedom.

By; Rachael Najjuma

07^th Aug 2020

The Appeals Court of the General Court Martial in Makindye has today quashed the 8 year sentence that was accorded to the former patron of the Boda Boda 2010 association Abdallah Kitatta and his co-accused Sowedi Ngobi.

The ruling has been made by Justice Elly Tulyabona who revealed that the sentence that was initially imposed was so harsh on the duo being first time offenders and further that even there was not substantial evidence that the fire arms that the accused were found with had ever been used in commission of crime.

The judge has accordingly sentenced the duo two 3 years on each of the two counts each and has to run concurrently but has further deducted the time on remand and that which the convicts had already served since last year in May and thus ruled that the convicts are now left with 1 year 8 months and 6 days to serve in prison.

Kittata who was in court physically together with his co-convict Sowedi  Ngobi appealed on both the conviction and sentence through his lawyers led by Abdallah  Kiwanuka and raised many grounds of which some included that since he is a civilian the Court Martial had no mandate to try him which the judge dismissed and that the Court was harsh while according him a maximum sentence and further that court never considered that he was a first offender.

Kittatta was sentenced to eight years and six months in prison on the May 14th 2019 by the head of Court Martial Lt. General Andrew Gutti on charges of illegal possession of firearms and ammunition.

He was arrested at Vine Tea Hotel in Wakaliga, Rubaga division and his detention came after a group of people attempted to block the arrest of his brother Huzairu Kiwalabye, who was charged with the murder of former Case Hospital accountant Francis Ekalungar.

Kitatta was arrested and charged jointly with 11 others among them a police detective, Sowali Ngobi.