Namutumba youth fail to return YLP money

Authorities in Namutumba District  have expressed concern that the district may be left out of  the next phase of the Youth Livelihood Programme (YLP) due to low recovery rate of funds secured.

Mr Saleh Kumbuga, the district chairperson, on Monday attributed the slow rate of recovery  of funds to poor project enterprise selection and weak youth interest groups formation.

He said some youth were not trained on project selection, while others selected unprofitable projects.

“Due to the poor recovery, the district will not benefit from the next phase simply because some previous beneficiaries messed up,” Mr Kumbuga said.

More than Shs1.1b was distributed to 192 youth groups in the district between 2015 and 2019, with only Shs124m recovered while about Shs100m of the money was earmarked for operations.

Mr Kumbuga called for more efforts to recover the funds, adding that the money being returned would be distributed to youth groups in the current financial year.  Early this year, Mr Amos Ssempala Kigozi, the resident district commissioner, said many youth flee to districts such as Hoima and Busia after getting the funds.

“We are finding it extremely difficult to arrest such youth (who have changed residence) yet they have no existing projects,” he said, adding that authorities are working hard to improv+e the recovery.

Mr John Mande Naloka, the district vice chairperson, urged those in charge of the programme to speed up the process by arresting defaulters.

“Arresting the defaulters should not only be the work of sub-county chiefs, RDC and focal persons, but even the local council chairpersons,” he said.
Mr James Mugurwa, the Mazuba Sub-county chairperson, accused politicians, civil servants and some technical staff of misappropriating the funds.

“If the district is to recover 100 per cent of the funds, some civil servants who participated in seeking kickbacks from the beneficiaries should be probed,” he said.

Mr Badru Sindani, the Kizuba Sub-county chairperson, accused the technical personnel of failing to carry out due diligence during the group project selection.

“We will not manage to recover all the money because some funds were distributed to civil servants. The line district YLP office should arrest civil servants who formed groups and received money and defaulted,” he said.
 Mr Julius Kyandaye, the district youth chairperson, called for revision of guidelines in the programme.  

“This time, we urge the government to give youth district chairpersons full authority over the funds and not technical persons. Since it is youth money, let the youth handle it,” he said.
 UWEP
Similar issues.  Meanwhile, the district is also grappling with challenges in recovering funds distributed under the Uganda Women Entrepreneurship programme (UWEP).

Ms Annet Neka, the female councillor representing Nsinze, said the district received more than Shs420m in UWEP funds, and a total of 90 women groups benefited but only Shs28m has been returned. 

“People in Namutumba are difficult to handle when it comes to repaying debts,” she said.

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