KAMPALA: For alleged corruption, councillors lock the Bubutu town clerk out of the office.
The office of Bubutu Town Clerk in Namisindwa district is under lock and key.
On Wednesday, a group of councillors led by the LC III chair, Moses Mutambo, locked down the town clerk’s office. They wanted the town clerk, Ronald Nakhaima, out because of alleged corruption and mismanagement.
They accuse the town clerk of swindling the start-up fund of 5.4 million schillings allocated to the town council. They are also enraged that during the commissioning of the town council headquarters, Nakhaima neither invited the LC III chairperson nor the councillors.
James Mutama, the councillor of Buisma ward, says that the town clerk does not respect the political leaders of the town council. He says that when they asked Nakhaima for accountability for the start-up fund, he abused them, prompting them to resolve and lock his office.
The town council LC III Chairperson, Moses Mutambo, said that since July last year, the town clerk has not given him any report on the local revenue collections.
He says that he wrote to the Chief Administrative Officer and the Resident District Commissioner over the same but didn’t get any response.
Mutambo says that they agreed to lock the town clerk out so that the district authorities would have to move him from the town council.
Emma Bwayo, the Namisindwa District youth councilor, has welcomed the move by the councillors, noting that there is organised corruption in the district where top leaders, including security officers, connive with the lower local governments to embezzle public funds.
When he talked, he said that people who work for the government often hide information from politicians, which has caused a standoff between politicians and technocrats.
In vain, Franco Olaboro, the Namisindwa District Chief Administrative Officer, said that his office tasked the town clerk to respond to the allegations levelled against him by the councillors by January 24th, 2022. He says that they plan to intervene to resolve the matter once and for all.
