MBARARA – The misuse of Emyooga SACCO money has sparked tension in Mbarara City where some of the culprits, who include a government official and SACCO leaders were arrested.
So far, Mbarara City Assistant Commercial Officer Donati Mutaahi and nine Emyooga leaders have been arrested over the mismanagement of funds, though he noted some individuals have refunded the money.
The Resident City Commissioner [RCC]Mbarara City North Division Robert Kanusu, told this reporter that the arrests being made are producing positive results as some of the culprits have paid back the money they had stolen.
“Mbarara City North Carpenters’ Emyooga SACCO located in Kakika had failed to account for the missing money but after the arrests, they confessed that they had shared it as part of facilitation amongst themselves. They also claimed that part of the balance was given to the city commercial officer but when they were in detention they mobilized themselves and refunded the missing Shs 12mln,” Kanusu explained.
Also Moses Ariho, RCC Mbarara South Division confirmed that out of Shs 8mln missing in the carpenters SACCO, the arrested committee leaders have returned Shs 6.5mln.
“For example in Southern division, the carpenter SACCO misused Shs 8 mln and when we arrested them, out of the three, two of the committee one brought Shs 3mln and another one returned Shs 3.5mln, making a total of Shs 6.5mln and now the secretary is also trying to mobilize the remaining Shs 1.5 mln,” he explained.
“Our focus is not causing unnecessary arrests but what we want is to recover the government funds that were allocated for the Emyooga programme. And whoever misused the Emyooga funds must return it back so that the targeted groups can benefit,” Ariho added.
“In most cases, we are arresting the principal signatories who are the chairpersons, secretaries, the treasurers and now the commercial officers because they are conniving with them to withdraw money without members’ knowledge. What I can assure the public is that whoever mismanaged Emyooga funds we shall arrest, and must refund the stolen money,” Ariho explained.
He said Emyooga programme has been lacking monitoring and supervision which the RCCs are emphasizing.
“We shall deal with whoever ate Emyooga cash. Actually, after this operation, we shall visit each group that benefited and they must account for this money because we cannot sit when government money is being eaten in the broad daylight.”
RCC Ariho however said there are some groups that are doing well. “I am happy with produce SACCO in the south they have clear records and the SACCO is moving on well,” he said
We are not here to arrest but our role is to monitor government programmes. When we find a lot of confusion and government money is not accounted for, then we can arrest,” Ariho explained.
RCC Kanusu also added that the intention is to recover government money and remove the vice from the leaders.
“We can only create an impact in recovering the money than interesting ourselves in only sending members to prison,” he said.
Our purpose is to build more capacity to make people own the programme and enjoy the profits but not to misuse the seed money, Kanusu added.
“If we leave those misappropriating the SACCO money then where shall we get the angels to run such programmes in communities?” He asked.
Mbarara City North carpenters Association has so far received Shs 60mln. The RCC has called for a proper audit report to ascertain the accountability of the government funds spent. “At first they received Shs 30mln, then received Shs 30mln in the second phase. So we want both internal and external audits to be certain whether the money was used for the purpose it was intended,” he said.
https://thecooperator.news/mbarara-city-officers-face-arrest-over-emyooga-cash/
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