Five finance bosses sacked in one year
Accountability. Mr Cosmas Byaruhanga, the Masindi District chairman. PHOTO BY ISMAIL BATEGEKA
What you need to know:
- In Budongo Sub-county where the Finance Secretary, Mr Joseph Orone, was dropped, leaders are clashing over Unra’s compensation to the sub-county.
- Some district leaders want the sub-county to remit 35 per cent of the Shs41.3 million it received in compensation for part of land that Unra will be using in road construction.
Masindi. In one year, more than five finance secretaries in Masindi District have been sacked over alleged incompetence.
Finance secretaries are councillors appointed to monitor government programmes in their jurisdiction.
In July last year, the Masindi municipal mayor, Mr Joab Businge, reshuffled his executive, dropping Ms Fatuma Nyangoma from the post of Finance secretary and replacing her with Mr Amos Bandoho.
Mr Businge accused Ms Nyangoma of incompetence.
“I made this reshuffle because I want service delivery to the people not people who can confuse the council and the municipal executive,” he said then.
On August 30, the district chairperson, Mr Cosmas Byaruhanga, reshuffled his district executive, dropping the Finance secretary, Mr Ateenyi Kanaginagi, and replacing him with Mr Salam Kugonza, the youth councillor.
While announcing the new executive, Mr Byaruhanga said he knew he would work with Mr Kanaginagi for only two years. He also said he has the powers to reshuffle staff.
“I am mandated by the Local Government Act and the Constitution,” he said.
He also argued that he wanted to work with youth leaders. On September 6, the Budongo Sub-county chairperson, Mr Kenneth Nyendwoha, also reshuffled his executive, dropping Mr Joseph Orone from the Finance Secretary position, and replaced him with Mr Timothy Twesige.
Mr Nyendwoha reasoned that there was lack of transparency.
Others are Mr Geoffrey Mwanje who was fired from Mirya Division, Masindi Municipality recently.
Leaders attribute the sackings to the introduction of the new cashless system of collecting taxes, which they say most finance secretaries do not know how to use, leading to low revenue collections in some sub-counties.
Addressing district leaders recently, the Pakanyi Sub-county chairperson, Mr Frank Asiimwe, said the new cashless strategy allowing business owners to pay their licenses to sub-county accounts via mobile money has hindered tax collection in his sub-county.
“We cannot collect anything because our parish chiefs are regarded as thieves since you effected the cashless pilot systems,” Mr Asiimwe said.
The reshuffles have also come at a time when Uganda National Roads Authority (Unra) is compensating people on Bulima-Kigumba road.
In Budongo Sub-county where the Finance Secretary, Mr Joseph Orone, was dropped, leaders are clashing over Unra’s compensation to the sub-county.
Some district leaders want the sub-county to remit 35 per cent of the Shs41.3 million it received in compensation for part of land that Unra will be using in road construction.
