According to information reaching this publication’s news desk, John Kabanda self-acclaimed leader of the New Generation Traders Association and president of the controversial Federation of Uganda Traders Association could go to jail for conniving with NUP and other opposition political leaders to organize demonstrations among the business community in Kampala.
Revelations from the business community in Kampala have implicated Kabanda John, a known business mobilizer who tags himself as a freedom fighter in Kampala, of staging and fueling plans to cause mass protests and riots stemming from vendors and businessmen in the city.
According to a source from Kampala City Traders Association who preferred not to be named for his safety and the sensitive nature of the matter, Kabanda has been doing underground work to fail multiple businesses owned by businesspersons with whom he fell out.
However, in a new twist, information from the source indicates that Kabanda is being paid by politicians to cause scenes that can be used to destabilize businesses in the city.
Information from the source shockingly reveals that Kabanda who at one point ended up being arrested for extorting members from the Uganda Music federation wrongfully using the Gen. Salim Saleh name; is now receiving funding from NUP and other opposition leaders to cause mass riots among Kampala businessmen.
According to a source from a group of businessmen who have been sitting in the secret meetings, Kabanda received UGX 50 M from Col. Dr. Kiiza Besigye and a sum of UGX 30 M from David Lewis Rubongoya and Joel Ssenyonyi.
The source revealed that this money is partial funding to mobilize traders and business vendors to cause riots in Kampala. The source added that some of the money is used to bankroll journalists to give Kabanda the mobilizing platform he needs on different talk shows in the media.
In an interesting loop, the source revealed that Kabanda receives money from both FDC factions, from Amuriat and the Besigye camp and any other parties who politically benefit from chaos in the city.
Disclosure from the source indicates that Kabanda works with a group of over 38 individuals who all claim to head different business associations however information obtained from URSB, indicates that these associations are not legally registered and don’t meet legal operational establishments. They belong to individuals who are in a racket with Kabanda to scheme, hold ransom different stakeholders in the business sector as a way of extorting from them.
The source cited an example in 2023 when he was arrested for blackmailing the then Landlord Christine Nabukera when he had a shop at Nabukera Plaza, the individuals he works with were quick to organize demonstrations demanding for his release. The source also said that Kabanda and his colleagues continuously use a fight against taxes to extort money from government agencies targeting the Ministry of Finance and Uganda Revenue Authority.
KACITA members have in the past raised alarm and disowned Kabanda for being the chairman of traders in Kampala, however, that was the beginning of his trickery. “He has formed many quark associations with no board, no established leadership, and no secretariats and then made himself the leader of these associations as a way to pose as a leader of traders,” the source said.
This publication called the police to get a statement on whether the revelations made by our source were true and the security said that Kabanda has a long history of crimes related to extortion, impersonation and revealed that he is under investigation, therefore they could not divulge much information until the enquiry is over.
Kabanda’s trail of criminal offences has been in the news for years with one prominent case of 2020 when he caused a scene by physically fighting police officers and stoning PC Ssebunya and Ekip causing grievous harm while they were executing their duty during a demonstration he had staged, which landed him in jail.
Revelations that Kabanda’s litany of activism and disobedience campaigns in Kampala are always funded by political opponents to government and foreigners who benefit from Uganda’s instability, could land him in grave criminal charges.
