BY JOACKIM KULE
Kasese Municipal Councilors are still demanding for an accountability of how shillings 36 million that was meant to facilitate training of two technical staff on safety and health under the Uganda Support to Municipal Infrastructural Development (USMID).
Under the USMID arrangement, Kasese Municipal Council was given shillings 36 million to facilitate training of two technical staff on safety and health of the roads that are under construction in the urban centre.
At a number of extra –ordinary council sittings, the Councilors have been demanding for an accountability of the said funds.
In April this year, Council instituted a committee chaired by Mr. Blasio Baluku, the Councilor representing the Elderly to make thorough investigations into the matter and compile a report detailing the findings.
But during yesterday’s sitting at the Central Division Council Hall in Kasese town, Mr. Baluku who had partly presented the findings before the journalists were chased out of the council hall, said out of the shillings 36 million, only 16 was used while the remaining 20 was not reflecting anywhere.
He also reported that they were skeptical whether even the shillings 16 million was really spent on fees, arguing that the committee found out that the certificates which were presented by the beneficiary were not matching.
According to him, the certificates indicated that they were obtained in 2022 and 2023 respectively, a reason why the committee members became suspicious that the money could have been misappropriated.
In a separate interview, Baluku told the press that they recommended that the one who was selected to go for training should refund the money while the Accounting Officers should account for the shillings 20 million.
However, during the council session, the Kasese Municipality Member of Parliament, Ferigo Kambale, who had attended council as an Ex- official had guided that the issue of funds be handled without causing a lot of alarm that would force the Central Government to halt the money that it is proposing to add to the urban centre.
He noted that Kasese Municipal Council has been ranked as the best urban centre in terms of implementing the USMID programme.
Efforts to get a formal resolution of council about the matter were futile since the journalists and other members of the gallery had been chased out of the council hall.
ENDS