NWOYA | COUNCILLORS | BICYCLES

NWOYA - Local government minister Raphael Magyezi on Tuesday ordered the Nwoya district councillors to return bicycles meant for village and parish chairpersons or face arrest and prosecution.

“I have given the councillors seven days to return those bicycles to the chief administrative officer. They shall be given either to the LC1s or returned to the Ministry of Local Government," said Magyezi.

The order comes after he discovered that some leaders in the district had received the bicycles at the expense of the actual beneficiaries in Bududa district.

According to reports, the bicycles were wrongly delivered to Nwoya district.

'Not stolen'

Tony Okello, the Nwoya district council speaker, revealed that out of the 165 bicycles delivered to the district by the local government ministry last September, only 119 reached the intended beneficiaries.

Okello said the remaining bicycles were fraudulently shared amongst some district technocrats and political leaders.

He claimed that minister Magyezi did not order them returned.

Okello said the bicycles were distributed to the councillors following a resolution by the Nwoya district local government council.

“The bicycles are there with the local leaders. They were not stolen. They were distributed to the leaders and they can be given back if the minister of local government wants them."

Okello said that since the bicycles were given to Nwoya district local government, they decided to give them to the Nwoya district local government leaders.

Denis Atube, the LC3 chairperson of Lungulu sub-county in Nwoya, accused district councillors of passing a resolution in their favour.