Six employees of the Nwoya District Local Government have one week to pay back 170 million shillings that they took from the Parish Development Model-PDM.
Early last month, an internal audit showed that 170 million shillings, which were part of the 417 million shillings the district got from the government in the 2021/22 financial year, were taken away from PDM activities. This made the officials responsible.
On Monday, Joveline Kalisa, who is the Deputy National Coordinator for the Parish Development Program-PDM, told the police to arrest the officials and hold them at the Nwoya Central Police Station.
Kalisa went to the district because district officials were upset that the staff members in question weren’t going to return the money by the deadline set by Chief Administrative Officer Gabriel Atama for September 15.
Geoffrey Odoki Ociti, the Chief Commercial Officer, is a suspect because he didn’t account for 41.6 million shillings. Mark Odong Osineri, the Senior District Accountant, is also a suspect because he is accused of taking 33.6 million shillings for himself.
Others are Alfred Luwum, the Senior Community Development Officer, who has 2.9 million shillings unaccounted for, and Linas Lakony, the district planner, with 2.7 million shillings. Meanwhile, Samuel Awanga, the Chief Finance Officer, couldn’t account for 33.8 million shillings and Alfred Kilama, the Acting Production Coordinator, had 33.86 million unaccounted for.
During a heated meeting at the district office, the community development officers from the sub-counties said that the officials in question had asked them for money without caring about who was responsible.
The Purongo Town Council Community Development officer said that she found a ready-to-go requisition for activities to be done before she knew for sure that money had been put in the bank account.
According to Ayoo, she gave 400,000 shillings to the Senior District Accountant and another 1 million shillings to Focal Point Person PDM after being threatened.
Olivia Ajok, who works for the Koch Goma Town Council and Sub County Community Development Officer, also said that she was told to take 200,000 Shillings out of each Sacco account from a parish and give it to the person in charge.
I was forced to use my allowance of 480,000 shillings and topped up using my personal money, of which I raised only 1 million shillings and gave to Osineri, from a corridor in Anaka Town Council. When I asked about how I was going to account for it, I was told I am a mother, so accountability should not be a problem, “Ajok said.
The suspects acknowledged their mistakes in the diversion of the fund and committed to refunding the money by November 4, next week. In his letter of commitment, the Chief Finance Officer, Samuel Awanga, asked for a week to find the money to pay back the PDM fund.
“I Awanga Samuel warranted fourth quarter funds to production as was released by MoFED. I commit to refunding the above fund as directed by Friday, November 4, 2022. I need this period to mobilize the resources. ” A letter written by Awanga is read in parts.
Kalisa praised the suspects for being honest and admitting their mistakes, but he told them to return the money to the parish sacco accounts by next week.
Since Gabriel Richard Atama, the Chief Administrative Officer, gave a directive last month, the Nwoya Resident District Commissioner says that 34 million shillings have been taken back from the officials involved.
Nwoya District Local Government received a total of 417 from the government for the implementation of PDM in the financial year 2021/22. Of the money disbursed, 262.8 million shillings was meant for the parish revolving fund, 44 million shillings for administrative costs, 60.3 million shillings for staff costs, and 49.8 million shillings for gadget procurement.
