Summary:
- Today (Wednesday), the council has a task to approve the proposed budget estimates for the financial year 2024/2025 and other government business. They have decided to sit at Zamani Resort, formerly Kasese Resort, in Rukoki along the Kasese-Fort Portal Highway.
KASESE: Kasese District Council has abandoned the District Multipurpose Hall and opted to use a private venue for council sittings.
In a letter dated May 28, 2024, signed by the clerk to the council, Enock Tubigumire, and copied to all councilors, it was stated that the venue was changed from Kasese District Multipurpose Hall to another location.
Today (Wednesday), the council has a task to approve the proposed budget estimates for the financial year 2024/2025 and other government business. They have decided to sit at Zamani Resort, formerly Kasese Resort, in Rukoki along the Kasese-Fort Portal Highway.
Two weeks ago, unknown perpetrators broke into the District Multipurpose Hall in Kisagazi Cell, Nyamwamba Division of Kasese Municipality. They stole doors, five tables, and two metallic poles used for flag displays from the building.
Meanwhile, Kasese Municipal Councilors are still demanding accountability for the 36 million shillings meant to facilitate the training of two technical staff on safety and health under the Uganda Support to Municipal Infrastructural Development (USMID) program. Under this arrangement, Kasese Municipal Council received 36 million shillings to facilitate the training of two technical staff on the safety and health of roads under construction in the urban center.
In several extraordinary council sittings, councilors have been demanding accountability for these funds. In April this year, the council instituted a committee chaired by Blasio Baluku, the councilor representing the elderly, to investigate the matter thoroughly and compile a report detailing the findings.
At a Tuesday sitting at the Central Division Council Hall in Kasese town, Baluku, who had partly presented the findings before journalists were chased out of the council hall, reported that out of the 36 million shillings, only 16 million was used while the remaining 20 million was unaccounted for.
He also reported skepticism about whether the 16 million shillings were genuinely spent on training fees. The committee found that the certificates presented by the beneficiary did not match the expenditures, indicating that the certificates were obtained in 2022 and 2023, which raised suspicions that the money could have been misappropriated.
In a separate interview, Baluku told the press that they recommended the individual selected for training should refund the money and that the Accounting Officers should account for the 20 million shillings.
During the council session, Kasese Municipality Member of Parliament, Ferigo Kambale, who attended the council as an ex-officio member, advised that the issue of funds be handled discreetly to avoid causing alarm that might prompt the Central Government to halt additional funding to the urban center. He noted that Kasese Municipal Council has been ranked as the best urban center in terms of implementing the USMID program.
Efforts to obtain a formal resolution from the council about the matter were unsuccessful, as journalists and other gallery members had been expelled from the council hall.
