Lwengo officers arrested over youth fund mismanagement

Two senior officials in Lwengo district are in trouble for allegedly mismanaging Youth Livelihood Fund worth sh10m.

Police on Wednesday arrested Sumaiya Mulumba, the Assistant Inspector of Schools,  Peter Ssekabira, the district information officer and Madhivani Ssenyonjo.

Their arrest comes two years they received the said funds to start a poultry project.

The trio allegedly shared the money and used it for their personal gains.

In 2014, government established youth livelihood program to equip the youth with skills and startup capital as a strategy to reduce unemployment levels in the country.

The program is implemented under the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development (MGLSD) to benefit youth in the age bracket of 18 to 30 years

However, most of the youth groups misused the funds leaving majority of the potential beneficiaries suffering hence government's intervention to track and recover the lost funds.

Ritah Basemeera, the district criminal investigations officer, confirmed their arrest saying they are already in custody.

She said that this follows the ongoing operation against people who mismanaged the funds. She explained that several district leaders have been arrested in connection with the funds.

Basemeera added that Mulumba, Ssekabira and Ssenyonjo formed a group that received the money but failed to put it to use as it had been planned.

She said that the officials have recorded statements explaining circumstances under which the money was lost.

It is said that the proposed poultry project was meant to help over 20 youths but nothing was done. However, the trio declined to speak to the press.

Last week, the same police arrested Maureen Nakakeeto, the Female Youth councilor, for failing to account for over sh5m in the same program.

George William Mutabaazi, the Lwengo LC5 chairperson, applauded the operation saying that whoever misused the funds must be arrested, prosecuted and forced to return the funds.