Kampala District Land Board chairperson and NRM Luuka North parliamentary aspirant, David Balondemu, has been pinned in a high-profile court case involving forged medical documents aimed at securing bail.
During a plea bargain hearing at Buganda Road Court, Hassan Ssegujja, an orthopedic officer formerly attached to Mulago National Referral Hospital, confessed that he forged medical prescription forms on Balondemu’s request to enable him secure bail last year.
Ssegujja, who pleaded guilty to forgery and conspiracy charges, told court that Balondemu—his longtime friend since 2016—contacted him in November 2023 while detained at Wandegeya Police Station. According to Ssegujja, Balondemu asked him to forge medical documents showing he was critically ill and due for surgery, to strengthen his bail application.
Ssegujja admitted that he, with assistance from an unidentified person still at large, forged a medical prescription dated November 7, 2023, purporting it originated from Kampala Hospital. The documents falsely indicated that Balondemu was scheduled for a TURP surgery and had CT scan results recommending a biopsy for a ‘solid mass.’
The forged documents were later sent via WhatsApp to Balondemu’s lawyer, Caleb Alaka, who presented them before Buganda Road Court on November 20, 2023, to secure his client’s bail on charges of obtaining money by false pretenses.
However, state prosecutors detected inconsistencies in the documents after verifying with Kampala Hospital, leading to the forgery case against both Balondemu and Ssegujja.
Court further heard that Balondemu had advised Ssegujja to switch off his phones and offered him Shs1.7 million to avoid arrest by the State House Anti-Corruption Unit. Despite evading authorities for months, Ssegujja was eventually arrested and charged in March 2025.
In his testimony, Ssegujja confirmed that he forged the documents under Balondemu’s instructions and had maintained a friendship with him since they met through a patient in 2016.
Ssegujja, under the plea bargain, avoided a jail sentence of over three years and was instead fined Shs4 million or face two years in prison.
Energy around the case is now mounting, with attention turning to Balondemu’s fate as investigations continue.
