Posta staff probed over missing newsletter
Nov 30, 2003
TWO top Posta Uganda officials in Iganga have been sent on forced leave after a number of Straight Talk newsletters destined for schools in the district ended up on sale in the market
By John Eremu
TWO top Posta Uganda officials in Iganga have been sent on forced leave after a number of Straight Talk newsletters destined for schools in the district ended up on sale in the market.
The newsletter is provided free of charge mainly to schools.
The postmaster, Cranimer Mukama Safani and his assistant, Moses Wanjala, were told to vacate their offices as investigations continue.
Anthony Talibita, who was illegally engaged by the duo to deliver the newsletters is on the run.
Fatuma Namaganda, the operator of the stall in which the newsletters were found was briefly detained by the police.
A probe by Posta headquarters discovered that Mukama and Wanjala privately employed Talibita instead of using the official motorcycle.
“The adduced evidence shows they privately engaged him around November 2002 and up to the time of his disappearance on August 20, 2003, he was the only person delivering mail to Posta Uganda Iganga customers using an official motorcycle,†Mr. Y. Ntabaazi, a Posta official, said.
“Although none of them admits responsibility for paying his wages, I strongly suspect that they used to contribute money and paid him a meagre wage and this could have led to the temptation to sell the Straight Talk newsletters for some top up money,†Ntabaazi said in the October 6, 2003 letter to the Posta Uganda managing director.
Cathy Watson, the Straight Talk Foundation communications director, said they started investigations into the matter following complaints that schools in Iganga were not getting copies.
The foundation distribution officer, Elizabeth Othieno, said they discovered that the news letters were being sold at sh300 a copy or sh700 a kilogramme.
She said she bought four-and-a-half kilogrammes from a vendor. Othieno said she reported the matter to the Police when the postmaster and his assistant denied knowledge of the sales and appeared uncooperative.
“By the time the police arrived at the stall, Wanjala had informed the stall owner and she had hidden the papers. However, she had forgotten to hide the wrappers which were clearly labelled,†Othieno said.
Straight Talk Foundation distributes free of charge, 400,000 copies of the Straight Talk newsletters as well as 230,000 copies of Young Talk. The foundation, which also publishes Teacher talk and Farm Talk pays Posta between sh8m - 10m as delivery charges.
Although the thefts were reported in August 2003, Ntabaazi said they could not immediately take action against Mukama and Wanjala because of the long disciplinary procedure and lack of evidence. He said the prime suspect is Talibita who was not an employee of Posta Uganda. “Straight Talk is one of our biggest customers and we would not want to lose them,†he said.
TWO top Posta Uganda officials in Iganga have been sent on forced leave after a number of Straight Talk newsletters destined for schools in the district ended up on sale in the market.
The newsletter is provided free of charge mainly to schools.
The postmaster, Cranimer Mukama Safani and his assistant, Moses Wanjala, were told to vacate their offices as investigations continue.
Anthony Talibita, who was illegally engaged by the duo to deliver the newsletters is on the run.
Fatuma Namaganda, the operator of the stall in which the newsletters were found was briefly detained by the police.
A probe by Posta headquarters discovered that Mukama and Wanjala privately employed Talibita instead of using the official motorcycle.
“The adduced evidence shows they privately engaged him around November 2002 and up to the time of his disappearance on August 20, 2003, he was the only person delivering mail to Posta Uganda Iganga customers using an official motorcycle,†Mr. Y. Ntabaazi, a Posta official, said.
“Although none of them admits responsibility for paying his wages, I strongly suspect that they used to contribute money and paid him a meagre wage and this could have led to the temptation to sell the Straight Talk newsletters for some top up money,†Ntabaazi said in the October 6, 2003 letter to the Posta Uganda managing director.
Cathy Watson, the Straight Talk Foundation communications director, said they started investigations into the matter following complaints that schools in Iganga were not getting copies.
The foundation distribution officer, Elizabeth Othieno, said they discovered that the news letters were being sold at sh300 a copy or sh700 a kilogramme.
She said she bought four-and-a-half kilogrammes from a vendor. Othieno said she reported the matter to the Police when the postmaster and his assistant denied knowledge of the sales and appeared uncooperative.
“By the time the police arrived at the stall, Wanjala had informed the stall owner and she had hidden the papers. However, she had forgotten to hide the wrappers which were clearly labelled,†Othieno said.
Straight Talk Foundation distributes free of charge, 400,000 copies of the Straight Talk newsletters as well as 230,000 copies of Young Talk. The foundation, which also publishes Teacher talk and Farm Talk pays Posta between sh8m - 10m as delivery charges.
Although the thefts were reported in August 2003, Ntabaazi said they could not immediately take action against Mukama and Wanjala because of the long disciplinary procedure and lack of evidence. He said the prime suspect is Talibita who was not an employee of Posta Uganda. “Straight Talk is one of our biggest customers and we would not want to lose them,†he said.