Michael Katungi Mpeirwe is set to remain in custody as he awaits a directive from the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs on his possible surrender to the United States, after the Buganda Road Chief Magistrate’s Court cleared the way for his extradition.
The decision was delivered on Friday, August 28, 2026, by Buganda Road Chief Magistrate Ritah Kidasa Neumbe, who ordered that Katungi be committed to prison pending the minister’s order on his surrender to the United States.
Katungi is wanted by the United States government to face trial before the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on three charges.
According to the extradition request, the charges include conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine; conspiracy to possess firearms, including a machine gun and destructive device, in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime; and conspiracy to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organisation.
The US case identifies the organisation allegedly involved as Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), with the extradition request alleging that Katungi and his co-conspirators attempted to supply, and agreed to supply, military-grade weapons in connection with narcotics trafficking.
Katungi, a Ugandan national and a former director of Diaspora Affairs within the PLU’s global leadership, had challenged the extradition proceedings on several preliminary grounds.
His lawyers questioned, among other things, the authority of the Minister of Justice to initiate the request, the involvement of the Solicitor General, the role of the Director of Public Prosecutions, the procedure used to commence the proceedings and whether Katungi was entitled to diplomatic immunity arising from his previous service as a deputy head of mission.
Chief Magistrate Neumbe rejected all the preliminary objections.
On the question of diplomatic immunity, the court held that the protection relied upon by Katungi applied to a diplomatic agent in the receiving State to which he was accredited. Since Katungi had served in Nigeria, the court found that neither Uganda nor the United States was the receiving State for purposes of the claimed immunity.
The court also rejected the argument that the Director of Public Prosecutions lacked standing to conduct the extradition proceedings, finding that Uganda’s Constitution and the Extradition Act placed the judicial phase of the proceedings within the criminal jurisdiction of the magistrate’s court.
In determining whether Katungi should be committed for extradition, the court said it was not required to determine his guilt or innocence, but whether the evidence met the statutory threshold for committal.
‘The true Applicant throughout these proceedings has been, and remains, the Republic of Uganda,’ the court observed in addressing the role of the DPP.
The court acknowledged that a Ugandan police file had not been opened against Katungi and that the principal Ugandan witness, D/SSP Kule Yona, had no personal knowledge of the alleged conspiracy.
However, the magistrate held that the authenticated US indictment, extradition request and arrest warrant, together with the admissible evidence concerning Katungi’s identity and the processing of the extradition request, were sufficient to meet the legal threshold.
The court consequently found that the charges satisfied the requirement of dual criminality and were not political offences.
It ordered that Katungi remain on remand pending the Minister’s decision and stressed that any surrender would be limited to the three charges contained in the US indictment.
‘The Respondent, Michael Katungi Mpeirwe, is committed to prison to await the Minister’s order for his surrender to the United States of America,’ the ruling states.
Katungi now awaits the next step in the process: the Minister’s directive on whether he will ultimately be surrendered to the United States to stand trial on the three charges.