KAMPALA, Uganda — The trial of 14 Uganda Wildlife Authority staff accused of causing a Shs9.3 billion loss in gorilla and chimpanzee tracking revenue opened June 10, with the Anti-Corruption Court admitting a batch of uncontested documents to move the case forward.
Justice Michael Elubu admitted seven documents that the defense did not contest, including UWA employment contracts, the authority’s human resource manual dated July 1, 2023, a certified copy of its 2016 revised financial procedures manual and a UWA reservation and booking system user manual dated July 31, 2020. The court also admitted orders authorizing the inspection and extraction of mobile money statements, subscriber details, call records and customer-verification data tied to three phone numbers, issued in September 2025.
“These uncontested documents are hereby admitted on record as evidence and marked as prosecution exhibits,” Elubu said.
Gorilla tourism is Uganda’s most valuable wildlife asset, generating about 70% of the country’s total tourism revenue. Permit sales for gorilla tracking alone bring in roughly $35 million, or about Shs130 billion, a year, underscoring the scale of the losses prosecutors allege occurred between July 2020 and September 2023.
Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Barbra Kawuma is leading the prosecution, assisted by Chief State Attorney Edward Muhumuza and Senior State Attorney Innocent Aleto.
Prosecutors allege that Stephen Sanyi Masaba, then UWA’s director of tourism and business development, failed to put systems in place to ensure effective revenue collection from gorilla and chimpanzee tracking, allowing invalid permits to be used at parks across the country and resulting in the Shs9.3 billion loss. Jimmy Mugisa, the authority’s director of finance and administration at the time, is accused of failing to maintain financial management systems that would have ensured accurate books and records for tracking revenue, an omission prosecutors say also contributed to the loss. Robert Maani, a senior warden in charge of accounts, is accused of failing to reconcile tracking revenue against daily visitor numbers over the same period, again facilitating the use of invalid permits.
Leslie Muhindo, then head of reservations, faces two counts. Prosecutors allege he neglected to reconcile daily bookings and collected revenue against issued invoices and receipts, and separately that he used his GoChimp system account to insert, confirm, split and reschedule 38 invalid tracking permits covering 87 visitors at Ruhija, Buhoma, Nkuringo and Kanyanchu, a specific act prosecutors say he knew would cause a loss of Shs224.1 million.
Alfred Emmanuel Ndikusooka, UWA’s information and communication technology manager, is accused of neglecting his duty to oversee the integrity of the GoChimp system. Gilbert Mwesigwa, a warden in charge of software development, faces several counts: prosecutors say he used his account to print two invalid permits for six visitors at Rushaga, causing a Shs15.7 million loss, and separately to reschedule three invalid permits for 11 visitors at Ruhija and Kanyanchu, causing a Shs20.9 million loss. He is also accused of assigning a shared account to three interns, leading to a Shs2.2 billion loss, and of facilitating invalid permits for 1,167 visitors across five tracking locations, causing a further Shs3.02 billion loss.
Gad Ekochu, a UWA sales executive, is accused of using his account to insert, confirm, print, cancel and reschedule 583 invalid permits for 1,501 visitors at Rushaga in Kisoro district, and in a separate count, 703 invalid permits for 1,865 visitors across Ruhija, Buhoma, Nkuringo, Nyakagezi and Kanyanchu, the latter allegedly causing a Shs4.8 billion loss. Shafik Twebaze is accused of inserting, printing and rescheduling 47 invalid permits for 127 visitors at Rushaga, causing a Shs319.3 million loss, and in a second count, rescheduling 56 invalid permits for 146 visitors across five other locations.
Sales executive Rose Namutebi faces two counts over a combined 11 invalid permits for 30 visitors at Rushaga, Ruhija and Nkuringo, allegedly causing losses of Shs33.7 million and Shs44 million. Grace Mubeezi is accused of inserting, confirming, printing and splitting 35 invalid permits for 82 visitors at Rushaga, causing a Shs218.9 million loss, and a separate set of 34 invalid permits for 88 visitors across six locations, causing a Shs208.5 million loss.
In total, prosecutors allege UWA staff issued 1,401 invalid tracking permits across the affected national parks. The case continues in the Anti-Corruption Court.
