Seven things you didn’t know about COSASE chairperson Abdul Katuntu

By Najibu Mulema

Abdul Katuntu is the current Member of Parliament for Bugweri county and he is the chairperson of Parliamentary Committee on Commissions Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE).

Here are some of the things you didn’t know about the parliamentarian;

1.Abdu Katuntu was born on 12 March 1965 in Iganga district.

2.Katuntu is a practising lawyer, having received an LLB from Makere University and a DIP, LP(LDC) from the Law Development Centre. He is a former member of the Pan-African Parliament from Uganda and the Rapporteur of the Committee on Justice and Human Rights. At one time Katuntu worked under Speaker Rebecca Kadaga’s law firm known as Kadaga and Company Advocates.

3.He was first elected Bugweri county Member of Parliament in 2001. Eversince then he has been representing the Bugweri people even up now in the 10th parliament.

4.In 2006 general elections, Katuntu narrowly lost his parliamentary seat to Kirunda Kivejinja but successfully challenged the result, citing widespread malpractices. The court found that “during the campaign period and on polling day, there was wide-spread intimidation, and torture in Bugweri Constituency”, biasing the result in favour of Kivejinja. Katuntu won the resulting by-election.

5.In May 2015, High Court Judge Justice Christopher Madrama sitting at the Commercial court dismissed a case in which Katuntu had sued MTN for allegedly operating financial services (Mobile Money) without being licensed as a financial institution citing that the telecommunication company was not breaking any law.

6.In December, last year, Katuntu ceased to be an active member of opposition party Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) following his criticism against Dr. Kizza Besigye’s defiance campaign. The senior FDC member said he didn’t believe in politics of extremism.”

7.Hardworking Katuntu, is credited for having recovered Shs 47bn from thieving Chinese road construction firms in 2016 and spearheading the passing of Access to Information Act