YMCA Faces Closure Over Missing Funds

By Emmy Allio and Jean-Marie Nsambu THE Inspector General of Government, Jotham Tumwesigye, has been asked to probe allegations of mismanagement and financial irregularities in the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) in Uganda, which faces imminent closure due to a freeze of donor funds. World Alliance of YMCAs and the Africa Alliance of YMCAs have frozen funds to YMCA-Uganda, accusing its management of financial mismanagement. YMCA-Uganda was founded in the 1960s by an American missionary, Daniel Tyler. YMCA is an international body founded by the Anglican Church. The secretary of the Africa Alliance of YMCAs, Mr. James Gomes, recently wrote to Tumwesigye, saying the chaos in YMCA-Uganda was “a deep embarrassment.” “We write this letter seeking your intervention to investigate the above mentioned corruption to restore the credibility of the Uganda YMCA and the image of our Africa YMCA, which has been badly tarnished for almost two years following the above mentioned allegations,” the letter said. The letter was copied to all international partners and the Archbishop of the Church of Uganda, Livingstone Mpalanyi Nkoyooyo, who said the allegations had led to the suspension of funding from the ymca global and Africa bodies. The New Vision could not confirm from Tumwesigye whether he had began the investigations. But a source in his office said they had received Gomez’s letter. The New Vision has learnt that donors want YMCA to account for about sh260m believed to have been misappropriated by top officials at the YMCA secretariat in Wandegeya from 1998 to 2000. The money includes about sh114.5m and US$84,602.3 remitted through Citibank-Kenya and the defunct Sembule Investment Bank by international donors through the YMCA Africa Alliance in different denominations. In a December 14, 2000 letter to the YMCA-Uganda president, Clement Ndyashanhaki, the chairman of the YMCA Africa Alliance, Eugene Cooper, warned of their intention to terminate YMCA-Uganda’s membership from the World Alliance of YMCAs and the Africa Alliance. Cooper said, “I am writing to give you notice of our intention to table a motion to terminate the membership of Uganda YMCA from the Alliance during our forthcoming executive committee meeting. This measure has been taken in accordance with Article 9 of our constitution and the by-laws.” The warning followed the refusal of YMCA-Uganda, under the leadership of the national secretary general, Robert Jjumba, to audit the association’s accounts. Nkoyooyo, one of the trustees, said the three top officials had ignored the trustees’ role of being custodians of the properties of the association. He said, “We have been inquisitive about the way the YMCA management runs things. I understand their lawyers advised them to ignore the trustees as long as the council had decided on something.” The three-month notice of intention to cut off YMCA-Uganda from the global body and to freeze funds ended in March this year. Sam Evans, the director of YMCA-USA, in a February 2000 letter to Gomez said his group would not disburse the 2000 world service funds to Uganda. YMCA-USA with other donor partners YMCA-Germany and Care International, wrote to Jjumba last October and warned of a serious action if the management of YMCA-Uganda failed to co-operate with the audit. YMCA-Uganda’s global partners had appointed KPGM auditors, an international audit firm with a branch in Kampala, to look into all the financial records of the YMCA-Uganda and its programme files. They urged Jjumba to accord the team “unfettered access” to personnel, both honorary and paid. But the YMCA-Uganda leadership under Jjumba refused to permit KPGM to probe their accounts. This attracted reaction from the YMCA international secretary general Mr. Nick Nightingale, who said, “your movement is resisting an investigation and is unwilling to demonstrate that the allegations of mismanagement are incorrect.” The YMCA National Executive Committee blocked the KPGM investigations and instead appointed another firm, Ernst and Young, to carry out an audit on their terms which included only verifying and determining the financial support of a few projects received by the YMCA-Uganda from her international partners. The firm was further required to audit accounts and records of the association to verify the proper receipts from the Nairobi-based Africa Alliance. Dr. James Nkata, the chairman YMCA-Uganda’s NEC, referred The New Vision to Jjumba. “Do you know where YMCA headquarter are? That is where you should go if you want a comment,” he said. But Jjumba in turn referred this reporter to an advert by YMCA-Uganda in the New Vision of August 20, 2001 which responded to corruption allegations by a Kampala weekly newspaper, The Message, of August 17-24 edition. The advert placed by YMCA-Uganda management threatened court action against The Message and dismissed the corruption allegations as “malicious, unfounded and aimed at tarnishing the good image of YMCA and its leadership.” Sammy Senkumba, chairman of the YMCA-uganda life membership club said the partners asked for audit after counter allegations that the Africa Alliance misappropriated over US $70,000 meant for projects of YMCA-Uganda. he said, “We are dismayed by the news of this imminent closure. Our interest as life members was to see the association going on and we are the rightful people to see to this.” Senkumba said he had written to the secretary general of the World Alliance, James Nightingale, to reconsider their plan to cut off YMCA-Uganda. Ernst and Young in its report made a disclaimer stating that due to some constraints they were unable to address conclusively the terms of reference on which they were appointed. “This report has been prepared for the sole use of the executive committee YMCA-Uganda. Unless the issue of re-confirmation of funds released by donors and Africa Alliance is appropriately resolved, this report cannot be relied on to resolve any disputes among the aggrieved parties,” the disclaimer said. Ernest Ssempebwa, a retired civil servant, who was the association’s secretary general (1974- 1981) said it was the first time YMCA-Uganda had been plunged into such crisis. “I am talking to you as a member of the association and not as a trustee. I was fed up with what they have been doing over the years. But I cannot give you an official view on such a sensitive matter.” Ends