Prime
Cooperative Alliance bosses defy minister, return to office
General Secretary. Ivan Asiimwe
What you need to know:
Crime. The UCA officials have been embroiled in operational, accountability, governance and management issues.
Tension ensued at Uganda Cooperative Alliance (UCA) offices on Nkrumah Road in Kampala yesterday as officials interdicted for alleged corruption forced themselves back into office.
They were defying orders of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives.
When staff entered their respective offices, they found the interdicted UCA chairperson, Mr Jonas Tweyambe, General Secretary Ivan Asiimwe, and Fr Emmanuel Safari, the treasurer, had locked themselves inside their offices.
Last Friday, the Ministry of Trade locked the premises to restrict access after the implicated officials refused to hand over office.
The UCA staff yesterday accused the trio of breaking the office locks that were installed by the Ministry of Trade. Some staff called police to intervene.
Chairman. Ajonas Tweyambe
The directive
In the October 24 letter, the Registrar for Cooperatives at the Ministry of Trade, Mr Joseph William Kitandwe, asked Mr Tweyambe and Mr Asiimwe to hand over their offices to pave way for investigations into alleged mismanagement of the UCA.
According to the letter, UCA has been embroiled in operational, accountability, governance and management issues.
“Arising out of these issues, an investigation was conducted by a team of some board members. Their report affirms that indeed there are serious challenges which include fraud, uttering false documents and impersonation,” the interdiction letter reads in part.
Mr Kitandwe indicates that Mr Tweyambe and Mr Asiimwe are implicated in alleged failure to comply with statutory requirements which led to huge tax arrears to Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) at the risk of fines and penalties from the tax body.
He said the initial findings point to the two persons as being at the centre of frustrating business at UCA which calls for investigation within 60 days.
When contacted, Mr Asiimwe declined to speak about the matter.
He said: “We cannot discuss that matter on telephone. We need to discuss that matter one on one; come tomorrow, I am too tired right now.”
Mr Tweyambe could not be reached as his known telephone number was switched off by presstime.
In an October 25 letter, UCA vice chairperson, Mr Jacan Ismail Onyenya, ordered Mr Asiimwe to hand over office as per the registrar’s directive.
Treasurer. Fr Emmanuel Safari
Police
On July 23, the CID summoned Mr Asiimwe to report to Unra’s Investigations and Compliance Department to provide information about the complaint against him.
“Investigations and Compliance Department of URA is investigating a case of suspected forgery of board minutes and powers of attorney which were submitted in support of a request to Unra to release residue certificates of title for UCA Limited to Mr Asiimwe,” the police wrote.
