Minister orders interdiction of senior Bukwo officials

The Minister of Local Government, Mr Raphael Magyezi, has directed the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) of Bukwo District, Mr Swaibu Balaba, to interdict senior officials accused of embezzling funds under the Northern Uganda Social Action Fund (Nusaf) programme.

The officials include the assistant CAO, Ms Catherine Cheptanui, District Education Officer Fred Sokuton Twalla and the District Community Development Officer, Mr Francis Cherotwo. Others are Mr Andrew Bukose, the chief financial officer and the district commercial officer, Mr Tom Toskin.

The accused were last month arrested on the orders of the Resident District Commissioner (RDC), Mr Samuel Mpimbaza Hashaka, after investigations reportedly implicated them in creation of ghost projects in several sub-counties in order to swindle the money. 

They are also accused of fraud, embezzlement and soliciting for bribes.
Speaking during a taskforce meeting at Bukwo Town Council hall at the weekend, the Mr Hashaka said during their closed-door meeting with the Minister in Kampala, the CAO, and the district chairperson, Mr Julius Chelimo, the minister directed the interdiction of the officials.

“On November 2, the Minister of Local Government, Raphael Magyezi, called an emergency meeting in Kampala and ordered the CAO to interdict the implicated officials in order to pave the way for investigation,” he said.

Minister Magyezi in a telephone interview with the Daily monitor acknowledged his directive, adding that he had received numerous reports of corruption.
“I have received reports of corruption cases in Bukwo and the officials involved should be interdicted and the CAO is aware,” he said.

Mr Magyezi said he plans to visit the district with the Minister of State for Economic Monitoring in the Office of the President, Mr Peter Ogwang, to assess the situation.
Mr Balaba said they would review the cases for action to be taken against those found culpable.

“I am going to look into the matter and see where there is evidence and I will go on and interdict the implicated. The minister never said we interdict everyone,” he said.
Mr Chelimo said they have embarked on the journey to cleanse the district of corruption.

“…. because almost every department is a mess and this is leading to poor service delivery,” he said.

Mr Hashaka said he discovered that ghost projects under Nusaf valued at Shs700 million were opened under some officials’ names.

“There are over 10 ghost mini-irrigation projects that we unearthed and the officials were responsible. I was given a report by the former RDC indicating that Bukwo had got a big number of ghost projects under Nusaf, so we did joint monitoring and we found that there were indeed ghost government projects,” he said.
Mr Jonah Chewere, the Nusaf desk officer, however, denied knowledge of any ghost projects in the district.

“Generally, we don’t have any ghost project. We don’t have even one but it’s just that the RDC is moving at terrible speed without seeking clarifications,” he said.

The accused say
The assistant CAO, Ms Catherine Cheptanui, said she had been in office for just two months. “I am barely two months in office and they accuse me of embezzling funds.  I was not involved,” she said.

Mr Andrew Bukose, the chief financial officer, who was also arrested, said  allegations levelled against him were false.
“There was no money lost and there is nothing that disappeared. The people just have to know how Nusaf works,” Mr Bukose said.

The District Community Development Officer, Mr Francis Cherotwo,  said they have never made any requisitions for money.
“They charged me with embezzlement of Nusaf  funds and I have never made any requisition of sorts under Nusaf,” he said.
The district commercial officer, Mr Tom Toskin,  said police should have carried out proper investigations before making arrests.

“They would have carried out a proper investigation and know who plays which role in Nusaf before arresting us. They arrested people who are not involved in running of the Nusaf programme and left other culprits to take off,” he said.

District Education Officer Fred Sokuton Twalla  said: “This is real witch-hunt, the chairperson is using the RDC to intimidate everybody. We can’t now work freely because of the random arrests.”