Prime
Parliament's iron sheets probe report expected next week
Minister for Karamoja Affairs Mary Goretti Kitutu (left) appears before the Presidential Affairs Committee at Parliament on March 3, 2023. PHOTOS | DAVID LUBOWA
What you need to know:
In an interview with Daily Monitor, the vice chairperson of the committee that probed into how the Shs39 Billion [supplementary budget] passed to fund relief and economic empowerment programme Ms Naome Kabasharira, revealed that her team is hoping that the House leadership would line up the item on the order paper for next week
The probe into the mismanagement of iron sheets and other relief items meant for families in the poverty-stricken Karamoja sub-region is ready, the Presidential Affairs Committee leadership has revealed.
In an interview with Daily Monitor, the vice chairperson of the committee that probed into how the Shs39 Billion [supplementary budget] passed to fund relief and economic empowerment programme Ms Naome Kabasharira, revealed that her team is hoping that the House leadership would line up the item on the order paper for next week.
"As of now, the report is complete. We were silent because we had to sit down and gather whatever we had collected and investigated to put them into one document,” Ms Kabashaira said.
She added: “We have successfully done that and are now requesting the speaker and leadership of Parliament to put it on the order paper. This is so that the public that has been anxiously waiting to listen to what came out.”
Investigations into the mismanagement of relief items including goats, sheep iron sheets, and other food items intended to assist the vulnerable persons in the Karamoja region commenced February. In the course of the investigation, the legislators interfaced with among others, Vice President Ms Jessica Alupo, Prime Minister Ms Robbinah Nabbanja together with other 22 Ministers, 30 Members of Parliament plus relatives of implicated officials.
A field visit to the Karamoja sub-region was also conducted in March, where it was discovered that each beneficiary was supposed to receive 16 goats. On the contrary, the committee leadership found that some people in the said region received poor-quality animals while others never got anything at all. The government had budgeted and allocated Shs25 Billion for the purchase of goats for distribution to targeted beneficiaries in the Karamoja region.
Having concluded investigations, Ms Kabasharira is hoping that the dicey matter will find space on the order paper for discussion and or adoption before the House slides into recess in about 4 weeks.
She also told this publication that no minority report had been generated by any of her colleagues considering that all members unanimously agreed.
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"So far, no member has expressed a desire to bring a minority report; I thank God that we moved together as a committee," she said.
Since the matter came to the fore, the Minister for Karamoja Affairs Ms Marry Kitutu, her deputy Ms Agnes Nandutu and State Minister for Finance in Charge of Planning Mr Amos Lugolobi have since been arraigned before the Anti-corruption after their files were sanctioned by the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions Ms Jane Frances Abodo.
