Betty Kamya, the Inspector General of Government, has withdrawn bribery charges against David Livingstone Ebiru, the former Executive Director of the Uganda Bureau of Standards (UNBS). Ebiru had been facing charges for allegedly offering a bribe to Charles Masekuura, the UNBS board chairperson, between October and December 2022 in an attempt to retain his position.
A letter from Deputy IGG Dr. Patricia Achan Okiria states that the government of Uganda no longer wishes to pursue the case against Ebiru, without specifying the reasons. Ebiru’s formal discharge is scheduled for October 31, 2023.
Notably, Ebiru’s charges have been dropped, even though he never appeared in court. He had been arrested in July 2023, but the court issued criminal summons and a warrant of arrest against him when he failed to show up. Instead, Ebiru’s legal team filed a case in the High Court challenging the legality of the charges. On September 20, 2023, the Anti-Corruption High Court Division Judge, Lady Justice Jane Kajuga, dismissed Ebiru’s application for lack of jurisdiction, allowing the withdrawn charges to proceed.
Ebiru had previously confessed to bribing Charles Musekura with one hundred million shillings before retracting his statement, claiming it was made in anger and that he had never actually bribed anyone. His dismissal from his position as the UNBS Executive Director occurred in August after investigations by a parliamentary probe and the UNBS Board.
