“Nemo iudex in causa sua” -No one should be a judge in his own cause. That ancient rule of natural justice now hangs over Busoga Square where Jinja District LC5 Chairman Moses Batwala has broken a two-week silence with a blistering counter-offensive, branding the probe into his decade-old academic papers a “politically motivated witch-hunt” engineered by civil servants and defeated politicians who want a chairman they can “pocket.”
Addressing journalists from his Busoga Square office, a defiant Batwala dismissed claims he was hiding from Uganda Police criminal summons, revealing he had been bedridden for nearly two weeks — a medical absence his adversaries twisted into allegations of flight.
Batwala accuses what he calls ‘desperate and sadistic rivals’ of turning Tiktok and WhatsApp into a courtroom and themselves into judges, over academic papers he presented nearly 10 years ago.
“The beauty of everything is that sickness is not an item for only one person called Batwala. At a certain point, even those celebrating and mocking my sick period will fall sick, God forbid,” Batwala charged.
“Stop crucifying and convicting me on TikTok, WhatsApp, and Facebook. Stop bribing lousy radio presenters to blackmail me. My office address is known. If you have summons, bring them. My secretaries can receive and sign on my behalf. That is the standard, civilized way,” he dared.
Go Study How A Bulldozer Works-Batwala’s Warning.
Batwala doubled down on his nickname warning opponents to first understand what they are up against.
“I am called The Bulldozer for a reason. My haters should go and study how a bulldozer works or operates. I vow to handle them the same way”, he said.
For context how powerful is a bulldozer?
In construction, a bulldozer is not a machine you negotiate with. It does not swerve for anthills, gossip or propaganda. It clears obstacles like trees, rocks, illegal structures by sheer weight, traction and a blade that does not ask permission. It moves forward, it flattens resistance, it clears what is in its path and levels ground for what is coming next.
That is the image Batwala is invoking, that he will not debate his legitimacy on social media. He will roll over the ‘anthills’ of blackmail, the ‘rocks’ of paid accusers and the ‘illegal structures’ of job selling cartels. Then he will level the ground for his five-year mandate.
“a bulldozer does not stop for noise, it stops when the job is done”, he said.
“I am the Last NRM Bull Standing”-Batwala.
Batwala maintains his troubles are payback for surviving the January 22 Local Government elections that became a political bloodbath for the ruling NRM in Busoga.
While the NUP wave humbled powerful party bigwigs — including Hon. Alex Brandon Kintu aka _Omusayi Omuto, who lost to political novice and radio presenter Odwori John, commonly known as OJ — and swept out Hon. Moses Grace Balyeku, Hon. Nathan Samson Moses Igeme Nabeta, and Richard Mbazira, Batwala emerged as the rare NRM “bull” who held ground.
“Many of them have remained with NRM flags in their sitting rooms while NUP candidates are hitching to be sworn in next month. I am the one they failed to eat. Now they want to finish me with paper wars,” Batwala told reporters.
He alleges the complaint by “concerned citizen” Paul Mukova is a proxy war.
Multiple sources in Jinja claim the cabal fighting Batwala comprises civil servants who want an LC5 chairman they can “pocket” — a pliable boss to facilitate the sale of jobs through compromised members of the District Service Commission.
“They do not want a bulldozer. They want a puppet who will sign blank recruitment forms. I refused. Now they have opened GEF 20-08-2025,” Batwala said.
The Paper Trail and the DPP’s Desk.
Mukova’s petition to Buwenge Police alleges Batwala lacked A-Level or its equivalent when he was appointed Vice Chairperson in 2006 and when he contested LC5 in 2016 — a race won by Titus Kisambira, who later appointed Batwala his deputy.
Mukova’s attorney wrote to the DPP: _ “…the police at Buwenge seems to have been compromised… seek for your immediate intervention.”
On December 10, 2025, Resident Chief State Attorney Caroline Marion Acio ordered the file sent to the Regional DPP.
The legal question: Under the Local Government Act, both chairperson and vice chairperson must have a minimum of A-Level or its equivalent. Records show Batwala sat UCE in 2017 and UACE in 2019, after his 2006 appointment and 2016 contest.
Former District Chairman Lt(Rtd) Hannington Basekana admitted: “He (Batwala) did present some A-level papers in 2006, but I did not scrutinize the details… I was a loner in the Council, full of wars. I focused on service delivery.”
Basekana added that councilors approved Batwala in minutes “not because his papers were clean, but because majority of councilors were against me.”
“I Have Valid Papers Even Now”
Batwala is unmoved. “The most important thing is that I have valid and genuine papers after doing fresh examinations. Whoever is running around is either idle and jobless or desperate and frustrated.”
He insists the motive is clear: “They threatened to block my swearing-in with propaganda. They said I was in a coma after learning the ‘truth’ would deny me my 5-year tenure. All lies.”
.A Pattern of Paper Casualties.
Uganda’s political landscape is littered with leaders felled by academic integrity questions with a number of leaders being thrown out over the same matter by zealous opponents who usually use ‘concerned citizen’.
The DPP’s complaint seeks “an investigation into the genuineness of the academic documents and qualifications of Batwala Moses between 2006–2016 in order to determine his eligibility to serve.”
For now, the “Bulldozer” remains at Busoga Square, daring the system to follow procedure. “I survived the NUP wave. I will survive this paper wave. Because God is good — and the truth is stubborn.”
The DPP, not digital mobs, will have the final word.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This publication (The Exposure Uganda (TEU) verified that Moses Batwala holds authentic UCE 2017 and UACE 2019 certificates from UNEB.
The dispute concerns academic documents presented between 2006 and 2016.
