By URN
Two staff of Pakwach district Local Government have been arrested for allegedly mismanaging over 200 million Shillings. They are Racheal Anena Mary, the senior Assistant secretary of Panyimur sub-county, and Frank Udoma, a sub-accountant.
They were arrested from their respective duty stations on Tuesday for alleged mismanagement of funds under the District Discretionary Equalisation Grant (DDEG) and revenue-sharing funds from Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) during the 2021/2022 financial year.
Their arrest followed a special audit report by the district Internal Auditor which pinned the two staff for failing to provide satisfactory accountability for funds amounting to 206.7 million Shillings.
Paul Eseru, the Pakwach Resident District Commissioner, said that the suspects will be transferred to Kampala and arraigned before the Anti-corruption court.
According to the special audit report, a copy of which URN has seen, it is alleged that the duo while at Pakwach sub county initiated irregular cash withdrawal from UWA account worth over 100 million shillings but only managed to account for 2.4 million Shillings.
“Unsupported irregular cash withdrawals from UWA account worth UGX100.435.000 of this only funds amounting to 2,469,000 Shillings was accounted for while 97,699,000 Shillings remained unaccounted for”, reads the report in parts.
In a letter written by Moses R.K Dalili, the Pakwach Chief Administrative Officer on June 26, 2024, the two staff are also accused of failing to pay retention funds to providers worth over 16.32 million Shillings.
“Overall you did not pay retention to providers worth 16,327,027 Shillings which can lead to litigation. The lapses you exhibited in financial management occurred when you were entrusted with the responsibility of managing the Pakwach sub-county,” Dalili noted.
In October 2022, the two officials were arrested on the orders of Pakwach Resident District Commissioner Paul Eseru over allegations of misappropriating funds however were released under unclear circumstances.
A report by the Inspectorate of Government indicates that Uganda loses about 10 trillion shillings annually to corruption.
