By Stephen Kalema
Mystery businessman Suleiman Kabangala Mbuga is not among the 45 Ugandans due to be pardoned by UAE courts. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, this means Mbuga’s chances of leaving a Dubai prison are slim.
While speaking to journalists today at Uganda Media Centre, Foreign Affairs spokesman Moses Kasujja said; “SK Mbuga’s name is not on the list of those whose names the Embassy is in negotiations with the United Arab Emirates authorities to free.
He is still in prison and we are waiting for him to be brought in the court and then our legal team will go in negotiations with them.”
According to Kasujja, the 45 Ugandans that the embassy is in negotiations with the UAE authorities for their release, have charges to answer.
“But nobody knows Mbuga’s case and why he is in prison,” Kasujja said.
Forty five Ugandans are charged with drug trafficking, forgery of documents, alcoholism, kidnap and over stayed visas. Some 41 Ugandans have been deported to Uganda.
“If negotiations go on very well, these people will be deported,” he noted.
Latest statistics indicate that there are about 60,000 Ugandans living and working in Dubai but only 3,000 Ugandans are registered with the embassy. About 150 girls, whose visas had expired are now working due to a Visa Amnesty period.
But Kasujja’s worries was most Ugandans in Dubai sale out their visas to west Africans.
“So many Ugandans are in jail but their passports are missing. This has made it hard for the Embassy to help a Ugandan in prison without documents.”
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