WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE STEALING OF PUBLIC FUNDS IN UGANDA Just a few months ago, Ugandans had one

big cause to celebrate. It was the 50 years Golden Jubilee celebration, of our independence from the colonialists. One wonders why we celebrated. Though we had joined those African countries that had celebrated theirs years before, the likes of Nigeria and was quite lucky, it was the first in the East African Community. Little did they know the good news was to quickly be supplanted by a more ominous story. The Uganda media houses have been vividly following last months revelation that the Ireland government had suspended aid to the Ugandan government after an audit showed that over Euros 11M, had ended up in the unauthorized personal accounts of the Office of the Prime Minister officials. Just in a wake of this suspension, many countries have joined in suspending their aid to the government of Uganda, these are; Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany, and the UK government. Of course the UK government chose to cur aid totally, and even withholds the intended Pounds 41M meant to be received in March next year to support the budget. This was a tight moment for the UK government amidst the tight home budget and foreign aid spending being complained about in the legislature. This was officially published in one of the local dailys Sunday Vision, bearing its headlines for the day, on November 19th, 2012. When the official s of the Finance Ministry were contacted by this local daily they claimed they did not have any documentation as to that effect and were only aware of it by the awash publication in the media, this leaves a lot to be desired. However before we could even think of what to believe, it all came up again in news with the prime Minister apologising to the Donors to restore their aid as the intended beneficiaries would suffer. Lets get to the roots of this matter, the money stolen was meant for Peace, Recovery and Development Plan (PRDP) in Uganda. And for that purpose the focal point was the war torn Northern and Easter Uganda that had faced the rage of the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) rebels insurgency. This programme covers 40 Districts in all, and was meant to restore the livelihood of these people, but one wonders whether after stealing $38M, any recovery will be justified in this region. This is not the first of its kind, earlier on in 2011, the aid money worth $50M was diverted to buy a Gulf Stream jet for the President of Uganda. In one of local Dailys the Daily Monitor, it was reported that Billions of shillings meant to help Ugandans affected by the over two decades of war rebuild their lives ended up building mansions in Kampala and buying luxury vehicles. As parents in war ravaged Northern tied their Children affected by nodding disease to trees, corrupt technocrats in the ministry were flying off to exotic holiday destinations. Such was the sense of those involved in the scam that a cashier whose monthly salary is less than 1.5 Million Uganda Shillings ($580) regularly lent the government hundreds of Millions of shillings, which were paid back to his personal

bank account. Funds advanced to the cashiers account were described as a refund of borrowed cash, making it appear, as if the cashier lent government money from his personal savings the Audit report noted. The of ice of the Prime Minister has since suspended 17 officials from its office some being interdicted by Parliament, and some from the Finance Ministry and Bank of Uganda. This was the kind of foil that left Treasury Chief Accountant Chris Kassami in shock, when questioned by Parliamentary Accounts Committee (PAC). The Prime Minister, Amama Mbabazi declined to take responsibility for the embezzlement and instead met with donors in the capital Kampala to apologise and reassure them a further investigation will be conducted. The Investigations have also had the hands of the First lady Janet Kataha Museveni who also doubles as the Minister for Karamoja affairs under the Office of the Prime Minister, implicated of having spent over Ugandan Shillings 143Millions in 8 frequent trips to Israel in one month, spending what was meant for her ministry. The Prime Minster has been implicated in various corruption scandals in the country and has been vindicated by the President each time. As though to add salt to injury, the Permanent Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister, Pius Bigirimana has been interdicted by parliament but the Prime Minister and President have chosen to vindicate him in this scam. The Ugandan Political magazine, The Independent, reported on what the president is doing to fight corruption. However many Ugandans think he is not fully committed to the fight. The President himself at one point said he was tired of corrupt officials in his government. The media publications and social media activity on embezzlement scandals in the Office of the Prime Minister, definitely captures the frustration the ordinary citizen faces. It should therefore be noted that the implications of the scandals go beyond the tarnished reputation of the Office of the Prime Minister. It will take us enough time to gain the confidence of would be donors and foreign investors after hearing such dismal acts. This is just to show how damaged the country as a whole has suffered, and not only the immediately affected, by the acts of the corrupt officials. I therefore call upon each and every Ugandan youth to rise up and lets join in the war against corruption in Uganda, the future belongs to us. Ronald Ochoo, F: Ronnie Ross Onyang O T: @Ronnie_Ross : @OnyangRoss Skype: ronnieross256 Commonwealth Youth Programme, Correspondent from Uganda.