Kanyamunyu was released legally, says Prisons spokesperson Baine

Following complaints from some Ugandans regarding the release of Mathew Kanyamunyu on remission, Uganda prisons service has re-echoed that this was done under the law.

Frank Baine, the Uganda prison’s spokesperson revealed that he was receiving calls from different people, complaining that the prison authorities had released Kanyamunyu after being bribed, something he disagreed with.

“I thought I should come with the law to explain that this remission is in the law books, and every person is entitled to it. However, my words may not be very convincing that’s why I have used the law to explain it,” he explained.

According to Biane, the prison’s Act of 2006 stipulates under section 84, that “a convicted prisoner sentenced to imprisonment, whether by one sentence or consecutive sentences for a period exceeding one month, may by industry and good conduct earn remission of one third of his/her sentence,”

He further explained that a person sentenced beyond one month, in a situation where he/she is supposed to serve 4 months, having served one full month they are forgiven a third, hence in calculation they will end up serving 3 months in prison instead of the 4.

“Supposing somebody has been imprisoned for 4 months. This means with good conduct after serving one month, this person is given one free month out of prison. That is what is about remission.”

Kampala businessman Kanyamunyu was released from Luzira prison last week after serving three years and five months for shooting and killing children rights activist Kenneth Akena in 2016.

Kanyamunyu was initially sentenced to five years and one month in jail but he has served three years and five months after he entered a plea deal with the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

The Plea deal came in September 2020 after Kanyamunyu’s family sought the intervention of Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative (ARLPI) and Acholi Cultural Institution to make a reconciliation agreement (Mato Oput) between them and Akena’s family to find a closure to the case.

Kanyamunyu and his co-accused girlfriend Cynthia Munwangari had initially denied shooting and killing the late Akena back in 2016 In Lugogo parking lot after the deceased allegedly knocked their car.

Kanyamunyu was arrested in 2016 on suspicion that he shot Akena after he reportedly accidentally knocked his car in a parking lot in Lugogo, Kampala and in the process, Akena stepped behind to apologize to Kanyamunyu for the accident, but Kanyamunyu instead lowered the window of his car and shot him in the stomach with a pistol at a close range and according to the family, a postmortem report revealed two bullets inside Akena’s body.

Akena died a few hours later at Norvic hospital along Bombo Road where he was rushed by the accused. Kanyamunyu had since then been on remand together with his Burundian girlfriend Munwangari and sibling Joseph Kanyamunyu who allegedly hid the killer gun.