Presidential Affairs Committee Kicks off Probe into Iron Sheet Saga

The Karamoja Parliamentary Group legislators have testified against Nine Ministers who allegedly shared relief iron sheets that were meant to benefit vulnerable people and reformed cattle rustlers.

They were appearing before the Presidential Affairs Committee which is inquiring into the alleged mismanagement of relief items meant for the people of Karamoja.

The Presidential affairs committee chaired by Jessica Ababiku (DWR Adjumani) has kicked off an inquiry into the alleged mismanagement of relief items that were meant to benefit vulnerable people in Karamoja sub-region. Proceedings started with an interface with members of parliament from the Karamoja region plus district chairpersons and municipality mayors from the same region.

UGX 39 Billion was appropriated by parliament through a supplementary budget in December 2021 of which 22bn was for the procurement of goats, 8 billion for the procurement of 100,000 Iron sheets and 9 billion was to support other related activities to restore peace in Karamoja. But Members of Karamoja Parliamentary group led by their chairperson Lemegio Achia told the committee that 8.2 billion is unaccounted for.

They submitted that only two districts represented by ministers in Parliament including Karenga represented by Rose Lilly Akello (state minister for Ethics and Integrity) and Nakapiripit of Esther Anyakun (State Minister for Disaster Preparedness) received iron sheets under unclear circumstances. Each beneficiary of iron sheets was meant to receive 26 iron sheets for the roofing of the house and the latrine but to date, many are still waiting   

Karamoja MPs pinned nine ministers whom they accuse of sharing relief iron sheets meant for vulnerable people and reformed cattle rustlers in Karamoja.

On the project of goats, Legislators submitted that less than 30% of goats have been delivered to Karamoja with 39,082 goats yet to be delivered to intended beneficiaries. They added that most of the gats that were delivered were procured from quarantined areas of Gomba and Kassanda with diseases and many died within the first two weeks.

On the feed Karamoja project under which the government grows food to feed school children in Karamoja, the committee of presidential affairs learned that 290 metric tons of food that were harvested in 2019 and 2020 went missing from stores.

District chairpersons and municipality mayors from Karamoja sub-region also gave their testimonies and called for a reprimand of all persons implicated in this scandal.

Members of the presidential affairs committee discovered that Karamoja is being used by government officials to siphon public funds.

The committee has tasked Karamoja MPs, district chairpersons, and municipality mayors to furnish it with evidence on all claims put forward in the petition.