Masaka City Commercial Officer arrested over swindling Emyooga funds
The Masaka City Commercial Officer, Mr Ronald Joseph Mugerwa being arrested by Mr Charles Okello, the Masaka City Police Commander on Tuesday. PHOTO | COURTESY
What you need to know:
- Mr Mugerwa was arrested on the orders of the Masaka Resident City Commissioner, Hudu Hussein, on accusations of soliciting bribes from individual beneficiaries from over 10 groups of different government programmes including Emyooga, Parish development Model and Youth Livelihood programme.
Masaka City Commercial Officer, Ronald Joseph Mugerwa, has been arrested and detained over alleged misappropriation of funds under the Emyooga programme.
Mr Mugerwa was arrested on the orders of the Masaka Resident City Commissioner, Hudu Hussein, on accusations of soliciting bribes from individual beneficiaries from over 10 groups of different government programmes including Emyooga, Parish development Model and Youth Livelihood programme.
"Members of various groups that came to my office were all complaining about Mugerwa's misappropriation of their Sacco money. I took efforts to call him to my office to explain the allegations leveled against him, but he gave me a deaf ear for about a year. I wonder how he is operating because he is not always in office, but appears in meetings to give reports and later disappears," Mr Hudu said in an interview on Wednesday.
The Monitor has learnt that several beneficiaries who declined to comply with Mr Mugerwa's demands had their applications rejected.
The Masaka City Clerk, Vincent Okurut, confirmed that his office received complaints against Mr Mugerwa and will consider disciplinary measures after police investigations.
The city security committee, chaired by Mr Hussein, is conducting a special inquiry into the allegations.
Launched in July 2020, the Emyooga programme aims to support low-income Ugandans in the informal sector to boost their household incomes and grow their small businesses.
However, in some districts, targeted beneficiaries, including boda-boda riders, carpenters, tailors, welders, fishermen, taxi vendors, and salon operators, have received the money and used it for gratification, while others received half of the money after implementers of the programme at the districts swindled a portion of it.
Masaka Greater Masaka Region alone received a total of Shs21b as seed capital, targeting 22 constituencies and 2090 associations at the parish level. The government has so far injected a whopping Shs260b into the programme.
