Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has exercised his powers under the prerogative of mercy to pardon jailed businessman Muhammad Ssebuufu.
The pardon was confirmed by Uganda Prison Service spokesperson Frank Baine, who stated in a WhatsApp message that it is contained in the President’s Communique dated February 21, 2026. No further details were provided.
Ssebuufu’s case dates back to 2015, when he was convicted of murdering businesswoman Betty Donah Katusabe.
In 2019, the High Court, under Lady Justice Flavia Anglin Ssenoga (now retired), sentenced Ssebuufu and seven others to between 20 and 40 years in prison for kidnapping with intent to murder, murder, and aggravated robbery. The court also ordered them to pay Katusabe’s family 100 million shillings in compensation.
The victims of the crimes included Ssebuufu, Godfrey Kayiza, Phillip Mirembe, Paul Tasingika, Yoweri Kitayimbwa, Damasseni Ssentongo, Shaban Odutu, and Stephen Lwanga, who received seven years as an accessory after the offense.
They had kidnapped Katusabe from her home in Bwebajja along Entebbe Road on October 21, 2015, and tortured her to death at Pine Car Bond along Lumumba Avenue in Kampala.
The attack reportedly followed a dispute over a 9 million shilling balance on a vehicle she purchased from Ssebuufu’s business. The perpetrators also took Katusabe’s SIM cards and mobile phone valued at 300,000 shillings.
All the convicts, except Lwanga, appealed their sentences, arguing that the High Court erred in convicting them without proving all elements of the offenses beyond a reasonable doubt, and that the sentences were harsh and excessive.
During the appeal, the Director of Public Prosecutions, represented by Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Hope Carolyn Nabaasa, opposed the appeals.
In 2021, the Court of Appeal, composed of Justices Fredrick Egonda-Ntende, Catherine Bamugemereire, and Christopher Izama Madrama, reduced Ssebuufu’s 40-year sentence to 18 years, one month, and nine days.
The court also reduced the sentences of co-convicts Kayiza (16 years, 10 months), Mirembe (16 years, 11 months), and Odutu (16 years, 5 months), citing mitigating factors such as first-time offender status and the manifest excessiveness of the original sentences.
The Court of Appeal also quashed convictions against Tasingika, Kitayimbwa, and Ssentongo, as the evidence did not place them at the scene of the murder.
For other convicts, the charges of aggravated robbery and kidnapping with intent to murder were overturned due to insufficient evidence, though their murder convictions were maintained. The compensation award of 100 million shillings for Katusabe’s family was upheld.
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