SACCO Leaders Welcome the Establishment of Local Committees to Promote Accountability

By Egessa Hajusu,

Busia

Mr. Sam Lwande, the Manager of Lumino SACCO has welcomed the establishment of local problem solving committees, to aid the work of the Inspectorate of Government, at the district levels.

This, he said, will help SACCOs to recover stolen money and also serve as a deterrent measure to those planning to steal cooperative funds. Mr. Lwande attributed the collapse of some Savings and Credit Cooperatives (SACCOs) to; poor record keeping and accountability, envy, and poor leadership.

“Perpetrators of this abuse that is sometimes met with impunity will be addressed by the problem solving committees at the district,” said Mr. Lwande in a telephone interview with the Cooperator.

While speaking at a boardroom meeting in Busia district during the anti-corruption week, Mr. George Bamugemereire, the Deputy Inspector General of Government (IGG) said the IGG has embarked on measures of engaging all stakeholders in the fight against corruption. Mr. Bamugemereire said local governments have been asked to set up local problem handling mechanisms to facilitate the work of the Inspectorate of Government.

“Even if the government gives us all resources to have the man power we need we cannot be all over the country and this calls for the need to have informed citizens that can detect mal administration, wastage of resources and prevent it before it happens,” Mr. Bamugemereire said.

“Districts should therefore put in place local problem handling committees to address corruption cases in salaries, pension, recruitment, procurement among others. This will give the residents fast customer care and minimise long distance travel to the regional offices and Kampala to report corruption cases,” he added.

Mr. Lwande noted that the IGG’s word is not final and appealed to Parliament to pass an enabling law to make the committees operational. “Those committees are long overdue,” he said.

The Busia district acting chairperson asked Ugandans to learn to be accountable at all times. He said accountability is about doing thing the right way than providing receipts.