Annah Asimwe was bold and unscrupulous. She was also naive.
And she put these traits to work moments after Bishop Paul Bakyenga, the former Archbishop of Mbarara Archdiocese was laid to rest last year.
Just weeks after Bakyenga’s burial, Asiimwe started approaching some of his relatives, claiming the bishop was wealthy and propertied.
According to documents seen by Bbeg Media, Asiimwe at first claimed she was a biological daughter of Bakyenga, sired secretly since the man of God, a catholic bishop, was supposed to live a celibate life.
This shocked the relatives but nonetheless they gave her their ears. She told them that Bakyenga had entrusted her with some of the documents therefore she could help them transfer some of Bakyenga’s properties into their names with one catch: She wanted millions of shillings.
Some did not believe her story and asked her to show proof that indeed she had these documents. They wanted documents like certificate of land titles.
She went to work. She visited the “national headquarters of forgery” in Uganda on Nasser Road in Kampala and managed to forge a number of documents.
To spice up the matter further, she also forged documents showing that not only was Bakyenga a very wealthy individual, he owned substantial “shares” in the World Bank, Ford Motors as well as MTN Uganda.
When she showed them the documents, some of Bakyenga’s relatives were overjoyed. They started drawing mental plans of how they were going to utilize their newly found pot of gold.
So out of excitement and hope for a better future, some of Bakyenga’s relatives sold cows and land and gave Asiimwe millions of shillings to start the process of transferring the properties.
With millions of cash in her bag, she switched off her known phone numbers and thanked the gods for the windfall. She went off the radar perhaps planning her next deal.
After about a month without hearing from her, some of the relatives became suspicious and reported the matter to police in Mbarara.
Others enlisted the help of the State House Anti-Corruption Unit, whose operatives moved with swiftness.
It did not take long before she walked into their trap and with that, her luck had run out.
She was arrested this year and her case was quickly processed.
Yesterday afternoon, she appeared before the Chief Magistrates Court in Mbarara, on charges of obtaining money by false pretence, forgery and uttering false documents.
She looked on pensively, lost in thought, as the charges were read for her. She pleaded not guilty but the world had clearly caved in on her. She was remanded to prison until July 9, 2024.
