THE acting chief administrative officer for Adjumani district, Martine Unzia, was on Tuesday handed over to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) by MPs for failure to answer questions satisfactorily.
By Joyce Namutebi
THE acting chief administrative officer for Adjumani district, Martine Unzia, was on Tuesday handed over to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) by MPs for failure to answer questions satisfactorily.
Unzia was handed over to the CID together with the district senior accountant, Okuga Paranza, and the chief administrative officer (CAO) for Kotido, Andrew Leru, to record statements.
Leru was the former CAO for Adjumani.
The three had appeared before the local government accounts committee to answer queries in the Auditor General’s report for the financial years 2001/2002 and 2002/03.
“Go and re-write your report and bring us evidence as to what you have learnt.
“Come back more organised if the CID sets you free,†the committee chairman, Geoffrey Ekanya told the trio.
“You are uttering false documents. You are lying to the committee,†the members repeatedly told the officers as they responded to the queries.
The committee gave the officers one month to respond appropriately.
Earlier, the committee told Unzia to apologise in writing for defying its earlier summons.
However, she stunned the MPs when she said she was not aware of the existence of their committee.
In the 2001/2002 report, the Auditor General questioned why the district reserves had dwindled to sh283.8m from sh490m.
The report also questioned excess expenditure by the district totalling sh405m.
“The borrowing of funds from the conditional grants to fund other activities of the district is not allowed by the set regulations,†the Auditor General’s report said.
The committee advised Unzia to read her appointment letter very carefully and understand it in addition to internalising the relevant laws.
Some MPs sympathised with her and pleaded that the committee mentors her since there were very few qualified people who want to go and work in such remote areas.