THE MP WITH NINE LIVES! Mawanda's hidden life, rise to infamy secrets

By P.I.U

Michael Maranga Mawanda, the Igara East MP now in trouble for allegedly stealing billions from the government cooperatives compensation fund, has nine lives like a cat.

Theosophy believes that cats are endowed with something special that makes them so agile that they can cheat death in most dangerous situations.

Mawanda, in his short 57 year existence, has done some of the most amazing acts in order to make money that are good content for blockbuster movies.

Mawanda was recently detained on charges of stealing from the fund put in place by the state to compensate the traditional Obote era cooperative societies that lost their properties during the war.

These coops, owned largely by peasants, were the in-thing before the 1986 revolution that brought NRM to power. With its heavily capitalistic ideology, the cooperatives could not compete in the buying and marketing of coffee, cotton and tea.

This coupled with losses of money and property looted during the war meant most of them, save for Bugisu Cooperative Union, folded. In 2016, the government agreed to compensate cooperators and over 160bn was released for that purpose. Unfortunately most of it was swindled by middlemen and did not reach the cooperators.

A parliamentary committee probe in 2022 found that MP Mawanda and another 30 or so MPs had allegedly colluded with witty chaps in town to eat the cash. The committee found that Mawanda who was never a shareholder, a beneficiary or counsel for the claimants of West Mengo Growers Cooperative Union somehow recommended a law firm to pick the money on behalf of the cooperative and when sh 2bn of the shs 14bn claim was paid out, the genuine claimants approached him. Mbu he instead offered shs 50m as a token to the leaders.

But Mawanda is no stranger to these kinds of controversies. In 2013, Mawanda, then a prominent city bailiff found himself in jail in India together with former minister Isaac Musumba in interesting circumstances.

Mawanda and Musumba had travelled to India, to arrest four directors of an Indian company Videocon demanding shs 53bn from them. Musumba and Mawanda claimed they had an international arrest warrant issued by Interpol to detain the Indians for running away from a mining company they had operated in Kisoro.

They claimed that Interpol had issued them a red alert for fleecing investors after operating the mining company for just six months before closing shop and returning to India. On that fateful day, chiseled Mawanda travelled as the arrestor and Musumba as the lawyer to witness the action. They booked into the Trident Hotel.

The next day they went to the headquarters of Videocon and demanded to see the directors. They told the receptionist that the directors had a few hours to pay an equivalent of shs 53bn or be arrested and returned to Uganda for prosecution.

The duo thoroughly intimidated the entire building before serving the demand letter onto the company. They then retreated to their hotel and waited for the money. A team from the company followed them.

Mawanda and Musumba were so bitter that the company had sent only its lawyers. Go bring the four directors or we come and handcuff them ourselves, they told the lawyers. At this point one of the directors went and reported a case of extortion against the Ugandans which led to their arrest. They were in the Indian jail for a good time only to be cleared by the Indian Supreme Court just recently.

When President Museveni a few days ago declared corruption the number one enemy for the country and ordered the arrest of MPs accused of corruption, watchers knew that Mawanda would not be spared since the parliamentary committee had recommended that the case be taken up by police and IGG for further management.

Sources now say a search at Mawandas Kololo residence yielded huge wads of cash stashed away in the house. But Mawanda is synonymous with money. In fact his friends say he has so much money he spends well over shs 30m just as imprest to run around the city daily. Every time Mawanda sees money he spends, a close friend told us.

Mawanda shot to prominence when he defeated former minister and Ambassador Dr Richard Nduhura. During the campaigns he had boasted to NRM leaders that he would defeat their minister. He is said to have spent over 3bn shillings on that race. Before joining parliament he worked as bailiff collecting taxes on behalf of URA.

During his first years in the House the Auditor general released a report accusing Mawanda of not remitting over shs 5bn his company had collected on behalf of URA. Surprisingly the Auditor general said the owner of the company was missing and thus he couldn’t hand over the money. But missing Mawanda was inside parliament laughing.

Mawanda is a close friend of tycoon Hassan Bassajabalaba. In fact he is the Council vice chairman of Bassaja’s Kampala International university. During the last elections he was in the Hassan NRM camp in Bushenyi which was heavily bankrolled by Basajja himself as NRM Chairman of Bushenyi district.

Despite his money, Mawanda almost lost to newcomer Dan Mugura Karukiiko who was then in Annet Katusiime Mugisha’s Camp. The Mugisha Camp put up a spirited fight and trounced the amiable Mary Karoro Okurut. While in Kampala Mawanda and Bassajja spend long hours daily at Lakes Restaurant in Serena Hotel where they wine and dine as they plan their moves.

Two years ago Mawanda surprised many when he emerged as the lead promoter for Gen Muhoozi presidential bid when he became the national chairman of the MK Group. This was a surprise because Mawanda and Muhoozi weren’t known to be buddies.

In fact this association partly prompted Museveni to develop cold feet towards the MK Group. The president would later tell the MK leadership in a meeting that most of them were self seekers looking for money or covering up for their dubious activities. When Mawandas dealings became too apparent he was shuffled out of the chairmanship and made disciplinary committee boss of the renamed Patriotic League Uganda.

Mawanda owns a string of businesses including St Michael High school in Ssonde, Hunter FM in Rwentuha a fledgling hospital in the former residence of UPC stalwart Adonia Tiberondwa in Rwentuha and Development Microfinance which has over 12 branches in Mukono and Eastern Uganda.

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