Rwampara officials given 7 days to refund PDM cash

The two Rwampara District officials accused of misappropriating Parish Development Model (PDM) funds have been given seven days to refund the money or face interdiction.

 The two officials, the chief administrative officer (CAO), Mr Stephen Rubaihayo, and the production officer, Mr Athanathias Gumisiriza, were arrested on Monday over misappropriating Shs110 million meant to facilitate PDM activities.
They were released on police bond to start the process of recovering and refunding the missing cash and correcting any errors.

In a closed-door meeting chaired by the Rwampara Resident District Commissioner (RDC), Ms Jane Asiimwe Muhindo,  at the district headquarters on Wednesday evening, the officials and others were ordered to refund all the money lost including the Shs79 million that was meant for recruitment and staff cost.

Other resolutions include substantive parish chiefs in 29 parishes be recruited, money meant for the training and selection of enterprise groups be refunded, people who did work for group formation trainings and were not paid should receive their payments as witnessed by the district chairperson and RDC.

They added that the funds meant for Rwampara District PDM activities that were erroneously sent to Kiruhura (Kinoni Sub-county) and were not followed up by the CAO be recovered, and a statement should be provided to the RDC for each of the Saccos that received the money. 
All this is to be done within seven days.
Mr Rubaihayo, Mr Gumisiriza as well as the Chief Finance Officer, Mr Santino Tumwesigye, and the district commercial officer, Mr Amon Mutabarura, signed a commitment that they will honour the resolutions within the set time.  
Mr Tumwesigye and Mr Mutabarura were included due to their possible involvement in the scandal.

Ms Muhindo said the officials could be detained again if they don’t honour their commitment.
“The President intended that this programme benefits Ugandans, not individuals who are, moreover, not the intended targets,” Ms Muhindo said.
She warned district officials and residents against politicising the scandal saying the operation was mounted purposely to recover the missing money for the success of the PDM in the district.

“The problem is that some leaders and residents here have already started playing with this operation, something that we shall not tolerate.We shall stop whoever is coming in to sabotage progress,” Ms Muhindo said.
Dr Sunday Nickson, a technical advisor at PDM secretariat, said: “You are lucky that the district first arrested you. Otherwise, I would have travelled with other teams to come and drive you straight to Kampala. Thank you for committing yourselves to this.” 

He added: “Of course by doing this, you are being saved from embarrassment, but make sure that you honour the commitment because failure to do this will subject you to tougher steps.” 
Mr Gumisiriza said they were committed to refunding the money.
“There is a lot we did not do well. We thank you for saving us the worst and we commit to doing better in other pillars and other future programmes,” he said.
BACKGROUND
The chief administrative officer (CAO), Mr Stephen Rubaihayo, and the production officer, Mr Athanathias Gumisiriza, were on Monday arrested over alleged misappropriation of Parish Development Model (PDM) funds. 
Their arrest was ordered by the district chairperson, Mr Richard Owomugasho, and the Resident District Commissioner, Ms Jane Asiimwe Muhindo, during a meeting held to discuss the PDM baseline data collection. 

During the meeting, the duo reportedly also failed to account for Shs48 million meant for training and sensitisation activities. 
They were later handed over to Mr Adaadi Asiimwe, the officer-in-charge at Rwampara Central Police Station, for further investigation.