Former Kyenjojo Heath Centre In-Charge sentenced to prison over theft of government drugs
He aid that the medicines and diagnostic kits that were recovered were not stored properly, thus compromising their safety.
Kyenjojo: The court in Kyenjojo, presided over by chief magistrate Aciba Nimungu Gloria, sentenced AIP Yusufu Kule, formerly in charge of the Kyenjojo police health center 11, to four years in Kyenjojo government prison Nyamango after losing a case of drug theft.
The court heard that AIP Kule stole drugs from the same health center he headed and handed them over to Tom Bwambale and Denis Blessing, both of whom were later recovered in ADF camps in the DRC during Operation Shujja, providing evidence that he was actively corroborating with the ADF rebels.
Joel Kakuru, the senior state attorney at Kyenjojo, told court that Kule deprived the lives of over 600 people from accessing health services by stealing boxes of ARVs, rapid-testing malaria and hepatitis B strips, and antimalarial drugs, among others.
Kakuru pleaded for a tough sentence for Kule, insisting that if not heavily punished, the public will lose trust in the government of Uganda if, at all, they visit health centers but do not find drugs, which are provided every year after, or if they start self-medication or visit witch doctors and use herbal treatments that are not scientifically proven.
The senior attorney prayed that Kule should be sentenced to seven years since he has been so remorseful by taking court through a life trial leading to 11 months since his first appearance, and this will send a strong message to others so that such acts are reduced.
Samuel Dushabe, the defense lawyer from Kesiime & Co. advocates, told the court that since Kule has served the government of Uganda as a police officer for the last 29 years diligently, he has ten children below the age of eighteen and six other dependents and is due for an advanced scrotal hernia and so be given a lenient punishment.
Kakuru, the state attorney, told the court that, based on the plea by the defense council about the situation the convict is facing, he was sentenced to four years imprisonment minus the eleven months he spent on remand.
Background
Late last year, an intelligence-led operation by the National Drug Authority (NDA) in the districts of Kyenjojo and Ntoroko was launched and managed to recover stolen government drugs worth Sh300 million.
During the operation, a total of seven suspects, including a police officer, AIP Yusuf Kule, attached to the Kyenjojo Police Health Center, were arrested.
Tom Bwambale and Denis Blessing, who were working with Kule to sell and transport drugs from Kyenjojo to other drug shops in the region, pleaded guilty, unlike Kule, who denied the cases and was sentenced to 20 months and six years, respectively.
Abiaz Rwamwiri, the NDA PRO, says that so far in the Rwenzori region, six have been convicted and ten in the Central region, with a greater number of pending files.
Risk factors
Abiaz Rwamwiri, the NDA spokesperson, said that the medicines and diagnostic kits that were recovered were not stored properly, thus compromising their safety.
“We worry that such medicines are always stored poorly to be consumed by the public, leading to side effects. Even the kits might not give accurate results, and therefore I implore the general public to always be keen on where they buy the drugs from and also report to us if anyone sells them government-labeled drugs,” he states.
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