Sarah Babirye Kityo, the head of the Uganda Netball Federation (UNF), who was charged with receiving Sh16 million under false pretence and confined to Luzira prison on May 15 has been granted bail.
Ms. Kityo, a resident of Bukasa in the Wakiso District, appeared before the Buganda Road Chief Magistrate’s Court with 40-year-old businesswoman Zainab Namutebi, with whom she is accused of defrauding two persons under the pretence of sending them abroad.
Ms. Kityo and Namutebi were each given a monetary bail of Shs1 million on Wednesday, but their sureties were each bonded for Shs4 million instead of cash.
However, the presiding Grade One Magistrate, Siena Owomugisha, warned that if Ms. Kityo or Ms. Namutebi absconded from court, they would be detained again and given a court-determined jail sentence as well of a Sh10 million monetary fine.
The culprits are anticipated to be back in court for the case’s hearing. Also, the court issued summonses for witnesses.
One of the duo’s alleged victims, Sarah Wamala, claims that she paid the accused Sh8 million in May 2022 in exchange for a promise that her kid would be taken to the United States of America.
Gloria Kikomeko Nantambi, another alleged victim, claims that Ms. Kityo, 37, Namutebi, and others who were still at large in May 2022 took Sh8 million from her under the pretence that they would take her to the States.
On the counts, they entered a not-guilty plea.
The court case was filed just a few days after Ms. Kityo claimed last month that she had taken a three-month leave of absence from her UNF position to allow a special committee established by Minister of Sports and Education Janet Museveni to look into claims of abuse of office and financial mismanagement.
The National Council of Sports leadership charged Ms. Kityo with financial mismanagement during previous national team engagements at a meeting on April 21 at State House.