By Christopher Oola
A UPDF Unit Disciplinary Court sitting in Lira-Kato sub-county headquarters in Agago District has sentenced a 50-year-old soldier to a jail sentence of one year and 11 months over illegal possession of ivory.
Sgt. Godfrey Kisembo, a UPDF soldier attached to 81 Battalion under the 507 Brigade appeared before army court presided over by Lt. Col. Nathan Kakakwete Mwesigwa on Friday.
Prosecution alleges that the suspect now convict removed the tusk from a dead elephant in May this year. He later attempted to sell the ivory.
This led to his arrest and subsequent prosecution before the military court for violating the UPDF Act as well as unlawful possession of a protected wildlife species.
Lt Col Mwesigwa sentenced Sgt Kisembo on his guilty plea. He described the convict’s offence as an offence classified as conduct prejudicial to good order and discipline under the UPDF Act.
He will now spend one year and eleven months in prison for breaking the Uganda Wildlife Act.
