BKCU boss resigns as salary arrears hit Shs 400mln

MBARARA – Banyankole Kweterana Cooperative Union [BKCU] general manager, Julius Tugume has resigned over nonpayment of his emoluments of about Shs 31 million, even though all the staff demand the union salary arrears to the tune of Shs 400mln.

Tugume, joined BKCU in June 2014 as an accounts assistant but would later be appointed as the acting general manager in March 2021 by State Minister for Cooperatives, Frederick Ngobi Gume after the arrest of the former members of the board and management for mismanaging over Shs 300mln.

In June 2022 the new board appointed Tugume general manager till May 31, 20224. However, in his resignation letter dated March 14, 2023, Tugume says he cannot continue working for BKCU without pay.

“As a person I need money. I am still young and energetic. I have to offer services to other people and get paid such that I can also develop,” he says.

“I will demand it [money] from outside,” he says, adding that apart from salary, his other emoluments not paid to him include, NSSF deductions, gratuity, leave allowance, transport allowance, and medical allowance. “I demand around 30.9mln in unpaid dues,” he says.

Tugume says he has been running the day-to-day affairs of the union alongside other 11 other staff but has spent over two years without receiving any coin. All together, they are demanding the union about Shs 400 mln.

“As employees, we have spent more than two years without being paid salaries and now the salaries keep accumulating monthly with no hope for the union to pay us. All these worries prompted me to resign. I have been patient for three years and I cannot go through another year of pain,” he said.

He said other staff who were laid off by the union went to court seeking Shs 200mln in unpaid salaries.

“Actually, there are other workers who went to court demanding their salaries. There were 12 workers who were laid off in 2019 and 10 of them went to court. Still, in the second phase, we terminated the contracts of more staff who still demand the union. I am anticipating that if cases come up in court, it will be a difficult moment for BKCU,” Tugume said.

Tugume says he has played a pivotal role in revamping the once-powerful union but his efforts have been weakened by the board which has failed to make things move.

“Restructuring process is almost complete and I hope someone will complete the process of the union’s revival. The process affected some staff but was done in good faith in the interest of BKCU,” reads the letter.

He said, “The period I have served at BKCU has been a very difficult period with economic hardships. The restructuring process of BKCU was challenging and painful.”

Tugume in the letter says government is yet to release compensation funds for the union’s ranch as well as war losses that would have been turned into working capital to at least start buying farmers’ coffee and reestablish the export coffee trade.

“We tried to revive Banyankole right from the time we elected the new board in 2022 but apparently the debts have accumulated,” he said, adding that the union has land and loan issues to handle.

Tugume blamed the former board of the union for accumulating multiple loans which the union has failed to pay. “What is bringing all this is that the previous boards had multiple loans and some of the funds were spent on unnecessary expenditures.”

He adds that without funds, the union cannot buy coffee from the farmers. “We are entering into the main coffee season of which we are not sure whether we shall trade because there is uncertainty that farmers will not supply the union with coffee.

BKCU was founded in 1958 to offer coffee advisory services, aggregation, processing, and marketing of members’ coffee in the western region. The union is now on the verge of collapse. The number of primary cooperative societies subscribing to the union has dropped to 70 from 358.

https://thecooperator.news/banyankole-managers-arrested-over-misuse-of-union-funds/

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