The Former Deputy Attorney General Mwesigwa Rukutana has apologized to the former Chairperson of Land Commission Inquiry, Justice Catherine Bamugemereire.
Rukutana said that he has apologized to Justice Catherine Bamugemereire after a three year spell of simmering relations.
In a brief statement,, Rukutana who suffered a poll defeat in 2021 general elections said Justice Bamugemereire accepted his apology and “I felt the heavy burden that had weighed me down”.
“God works in mysterious ways,” Rukutana stated.
“Yesterday, He set up an impromptu, unplanned and unforeseen meeting between me and Her Lordship Catherine Bamugemereire JCA.
“She warmly welcomed me in her Chambers. For the first time since the unfortunate fracas of 2020 (2019), the two of us sat face to face, exchanged pleasantries and reflected on how Satan had driven a wedge between us. Each one of us regretted the incident. I apologized to her and she did likewise,” Rukutana also a lawyer wrote praising Justice Bamugemereire for a reconciliatory heart.
The duo had fallen out during the 2019 land probe in which Justice Bamugemereire, the then chairperson of land inquiry committee investigated fraudulent land deals that involved the then deputy attorney general Rukutana.
Rukutana was at one point sent out of the Commission of Inquiry into land matters for undermining the commission’s chairperson, lead counsel and commissioners during cross examination.
Rukutana, who had also defied several court summonses before, spoke egotistically and refused to adhere to the probe’s terms of reference saying he “will not respect anyone in the commission If am not respected.”
At one point during the probe, Mr Rukutana told Justice Bamugemereire that “If you disrespect me I disrespect you.”
While appearing before the commission on February 5, 2019, Rukutana, refused to testify, saying he wanted more time to prepare himself. He asked for a minimum of 30 days. However, his plea was rejected on the grounds that it was not commensurate with the Land Probe’s terms of reference, which was time bound.
Rukutana, a lawyer and a politician who has held a number of government jobs including ministerial positions, was being investigated among other allegations for wrongly advising and misinforming President Museveni on the ownership of Mutungo hill. His legal advice subsequently led to some letters originating from the President’s Office.
Rukutana was also accused of giving wrong legal opinion in the media, well knowing that the facts as he claimed, didn’t colloborat with what the Commission unearthed through various testimonies from complainants and locus in quo visits to the land under contention.
