Kikuube district officer arrested over misuse of co-operators’ assets
KIKUUBE – The State House Anti-Corruption Unit [ACU] in liaison with the Uganda Police has arrested the Kikuube district labour officer, Arthur Mpuuga, who doubles as the chairperson of Bunyoro Tulihamu Cooperative Society, for mismanagement of a local cooperative’s assets.
According to sources at ACU, Mpuuga was arrested Friday evening at the Kikuube district headquarters.
It is alleged that Mpuuga in connivance with Everce Muguryeki, the district secretary for works and female council for workers, and Samuel Muganzi [ district principal assistant secretary] to hire out the tractor assigned to the society for their own personal gains. Muguryeki and Muganzi are members Bunyoro Tulihamu Cooperative Society.
A police officer at Kikuube district police station who spoke on condition of anonymity said that ACU is also hunting for Muganzi and Muguryeki who are on the run.
The misused tractor is part of the three tractors which were offered to different farming groups in the district by the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries to promote commercial farming.
According to the police officer, the suspect and his accomplices hired the tractor to an individual whose name is not yet known. The suspects used an unspecified amount of the money paid to them for their personal gains, thus the cooperative missed on revenue.
The tractor was two weeks ago withdrawn from the gardens of the person who had hired it on the orders of the Kikuube district Resident District Commissioner Amlan Tumusiime after the association members complained that they were not benefiting from the garden implement.
“@AntiGraft SH in liaison with @PoliceUghave arrested Mpuga Arthur, the Labour Officer of Kikuube District, who doubles as the Chairperson of Bunyoro Tulihamu Cooperative Society, for mismanagement of the Cooperative assets,” a post on the Twitter handle of ACUreads.
Kikuube RDC Tumusiime confirmed the arrest of the suspect adding that other officers whom he did not disclose are being hunted.
He noted that officers from ACU have been in the district since Thursday investigating several cases of corruption.
The suspect was by Friday being detained at Kikuueb Police Station and was waiting to be presented before court to answer his charges.
Bunyoro Turihamu cooperative society whose office is located in Kiziranfumbi sub-county was recently given Sh181 million under Agricultural Cluster Development Project [ACDP] to construct a processing facility and equip it with maize millers.
https://thecooperator.news/ministry-of-lands-rejects-kikuube-district-land-board-chairperson/
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