Embattled state minister for Labour and Industrial Relations Herbert Kabafunzaki has been suspended from Cabinet and ordered to return official government property.
No official statement has been released but Kabafunzaki said on Thursday evening in Kampala that President Museveni, after meeting officials from the Gender Ministry, had seen it fit that he steps aside pending disposal of the charges against him.
“He has not sacked me. He has asked me to step aside. It is good for the Executive and the party [NRM),” he said.
The minister had been instructed to return the official government vehicle and security detail had by 6pm been withdrawn.
Kabafunzaki was on Tuesday charged with soliciting and taking a bribe from the AYA Group to cover up claims of sexual leveled harassment by Hamid Mohammed, the AYA Group chairperson and managing director.
Last Saturday police arrested Kabafunzaki at Kampala Serene Hotel with a stash of money (Shs5m) that police claimed he had picked from Hamid Mohammed as part of the Shs10m bribe to “kill” accusations of sexual harassment leveled against the Sudan investor.
Earlier, last Thursday Kabafunzaki, had visited Hilton Hotel in Kampala, a subsidiary of the AYA Group claiming that he was there to investigate claims by a certain woman who had petitioned his office over allegations of sexual harassment.
In a brief message Mohammed Hamid Mohammed said he had briefed President Museveni about the matter who gave him a go ahead to play along as police organised to arrest Kabafunzaki.
