9 arrested over youth livelihood funds

BUTALEJA: Police in Butaleja District have arrested nine youth over failure to pay back the money they received under the Youth Livelihood Programme (YLP) in 2013.

The Bukedi region police spokesperson, Mr Sowali Kamulya, confirmed the arrest on Sunday and said the suspects will be charged with causing financial loss to government after police investigations are complete.

“We arrested them during an operation to recover the funds. They will be arraigned in courts of law for causing financial loss to government,” Mr Kamulya said.

The Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Butaleja district, Mr Alex Felix Majeme, said the suspects are part of the 32 youth groups that received Shs360 million in 2013 but have since failed to pay back the money.

He added that the suspects, some still at large, made commitments to pay back the money.

“Those youth signed an agreement to pay back the money but they have failed to honour the agreement,” he said.

Mr Majeme explained that unless the district recovers that money, they will not receive any more money under YLP.

“In order to qualify to get more money again under YLP, we are supposed to recover at least 50 percent,” he said.

The District Youth Chairperson, Mr Nicholas Higenyi, said that recovering the money has been a daunting task as most of the beneficiaries have deserted their homes and are now in hiding after misusing what they received.

“We have only arrested nine and we are still looking for more. They cannot hide anywhere in this country,” Mr Higenyi said.

The Youth Livelihood Program (YLP) is a rolling Government of Uganda Program, targeting the poor and unemployed youth in all districts in the country being implemented under the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development (MGLSD).

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