Agency
President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has pardoned at least 143 prisoners in line with the constitutional powers vested in him.
In a November 13, 2025, letter to the Commissioner General of Prisons, Dr. Johnson Byabashaija, Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka forwarded the statutory instrument of pardon on behalf of the President.
According to the Prisons Spokesperson, Senior Commissioner of Prisons Frank Baine, those pardoned are petty offenders, released in an effort to decongest the prisons.
Baine told Mega Fm that the prison population currently stands at 78,320 prisoners against a capacity of about 22,000.
This is not the first time President Museveni has exercised his prerogative of mercy.
In August 2023, he pardoned former Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Public Service Jimmy Lwamafa, who had been convicted alongside accountant Stephen Kiwanuka Kunsa, Christopher Obey, and Bob Kasango for swindling 88 billion shillings meant for pensioners.
Lwamafa was pardoned due to old age and ill health. Of the group, only Lwamafa and Stephen Kiwanuka remain alive, with Lwamafa free and Kiwanuka still in prison.
