The Buganda Road Chief Magistrate’s court has adjourned to May 16, 2025, for the hearing of a case in which Kampala District Land Board chairperson lawyer David Balondemu and Dr. Hassan Ssegujja are accused of forging medical documents.
The case was postponed after the lead prosecutor, Viola Tusingwire, was reported to be sick. However, state attorney Ivan Kyazze, who is a key witness in the case, was present and ready to testify.
Chief Magistrate Ronald Kayizzi adjourned the matter to May 16 to allow for a proper hearing. Both Balondemu and Ssegujja are currently out on bail. Prosecutors allege that in 2023, while at Kampala Hospital, Balondemu, Ssegujja, and others still at large knowingly and fraudulently authored false documents, including a prescription medical form dated November 7, 2023, and a CT scan medical form dated June 12, 2023.
The alleged forgery came to light after Balondemu, while applying for bail in a separate case at Buganda Road court, presented medical documents claiming he was scheduled for surgery at Kampala Hospital.
These documents were used as part of his justification to be temporarily released from custody. Upon investigation, state attorney Ivan Kyazze submitted a letter to the court from Dr. Peter Kibuuka, CEO of Kampala Hospital, discrediting the documents.
“According to our records, Mr. Balondemu has never been a patient at Kampala Hospital. There is no scheduled TURP surgery on November 22nd, 2022, at 8 am for Mr. Balondemu as indicated in the letter dated November 7th, 2023. Therefore, the purported documents dated June 2nd, 2023, and November 7th, 2023, were not authored by Kampala Hospital,” Dr. Kibuuka stated in the letter addressed to the CID directorate at Kibuli.
The hospital further confirmed that the documents presented had not been authored by them, prompting the prosecution to file charges of forgery. This is not Balondemu’s first run-in with the law.
In 2023, he was arraigned before Buganda Road court on charges of conspiracy to obtain money by false pretence. The prosecution alleged that between November 2022 and April 2023, Balondemu and two others defrauded $553,000 from KG Unlimited LLC under the pretence of securing them a government contract to supply agricultural drone sprayers and fertilisers through the ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry, and Fisheries.
This case followed closely on the heels of another where he was charged at City Hall Magistrate’s court for allegedly defrauding a Korean investor of Shs 2.2 billion in a fake gold deal.
However, both cases were dismissed due to lack of evidence. Despite the dismissal of earlier charges, magistrate Winnie Nankya had warned that if the medical documents used in the bail application were found to be false, Balondemu would face forgery charges—a warning that has since materialised. The court is now set to begin formal proceedings in the forgery case on May 16, 2025.
