Parliament committee orders arrest of Amudat finance officer

PIC: The Local Government Accounts Committee of Parliament meeting with district officials during a field visit

CORRUPTION | AMUDAT

The Amudat district chief finance officer, Luchugi John Bosco, has been arrested on orders of the Local Government Accounts Committee of Parliament for allegedly mismanaging and illegally spending billions of monies meant for works in the district.

Luchugi, who appeared before the Committee sitting in Mbarara District headquarters on September 21, was accused of taking over the entire powers of all the portfolios of the district and illegally spending the money.

He was faulted for signing, paying and sanctioning of the said money.

"This officer has taken over everything in the district. He is the engineer, procurement officer and the chairperson. Everybody here can see how he takes over answering all the queries, even when his team, headed by the chief administrative officer, is seated here," MP Reagan Okumu said.

Okumu highlighted that most the queries were criminal in nature and for that matter, he ordered the finance officer to make a statement on the state of affairs about the management of funds in Amudat district.

"I am asking the Criminal Investigative Directorate to interact with him for further investigation, so that the information they will get will help the committee to have a clear image about issues of Amudat, and also give recommendations," Okumu said.

MP Daniel Muheirwe expressed dissatisfaction with Luchugi and asked the Amudat chief administrative officer to crack the whip and take charge of her officers.

"Amudat gets more funds and grants compared to other districts, but when we asked him, as the finance officer, how much he collects in local revenue, he arrogantly said, ‘zero'. This clearly showed us that the level of abuse of funds in Amudat was extreme," he said.

MP Edward Ssembatya expressed gratitude over the decision taken by the committee to arrest Mr. Luchugi, saying serious sanctionS must be taken against corrupt civil servants and that it is the only way to help the Government fight corruption.

"We have been penalising people for stealing Sh2m, but this finance officer has mismanaged millions and millions of funds. This must end. It must end today," he said.

The committee plans to conduct a special visit to Amudat to assess the impact of the alleged abuse of funds, fraud and mismanagement of the district monies by local government officers.

The Committee has completed its meetings with all district accounting officers and is going to finalise its work after meeting with the Minister for Local Government and President Yoweri Museveni. The committee will then write a report, which will be tabled on the floor of Parliament.