24 October 2017•Update: 24 October 2017
By Halima Athumani
KAMPALA, Uganda
Ruling party legislator Ibraham Abiriga was convicted and fined $10 in capital Kampala Tuesday morning for urinating on a wall of the Ministry of Finance last month.
On Sept. 26, Abiriga urinated in front of everybody along the Apollo Kagwa road in the Central business district, specifically choosing the ministry's fence to answer his call of nature.
The legislator was summoned by the City Hall court after pictures of him urinating on the ministry wall went viral.
Ugandans also ended up adding the word “Abirigating” to their urban dictionary after the incident to describe the act of urinating in public.
The lawmaker, who is a member of the National Resistance Movement and is known for his yellow dress code, appeared in his favorite color again at the Kampala Capital City Authority court chamber for his sentencing in the case.
The state prosecutor had pleaded with the court to give the legislator a maximum sentence, considering his public position so that it would deter other Ugandans from carrying out similar acts.
“He chose to ignore the many places of convenience set up at the Kampala Capital City Authority and our sensitization messages against easing oneself in public,” the prosecutor said.
However, Abiriga in his defense presented medical documents and told the court: “Am diabetic and cannot hold urine at all.”
When the charges were read to him, the lawmaker immediately pleaded guilty but clarified: “Yes, I eased myself alongside the fence but it was a flower and not the wall.”
The court found him guilty and fined him $10 as per the city authority’s maintenance of law and order ordinance.
According to the ordinance, any person who urinates on public and state property commits a public nuisance and is fined $10 or gets imprisoned for 2 months or serves both sentences.
