IG Kamya wants three OPM officials interdicted over missing shs1.2bn

KAMPALA, UGANDA: The Inspector General of Government – IGG Beti Kamya is seeking for the dismissal of three officials from the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) in Lamwo District who have been implicated in the mismanagement of 1.2 billion shillings.

The implicated persons are Julius Kamuza, the settlement Commandant, Byasali Kabi who is the Protection officer and Armitage Basikania, the Desk Officer. The three work at Palabek Refugee Settlement.

The trio have been accused of being involved in the vanishing of 840 million shillings from a project account whose purpose was the construction of community centers and fencing Zone 1 in Palabek Refugee settlement.

The World Bank availed the district of the money under the Development Response to Displacement Impacts Project (DRDIP), implemented by OPM.

After the money went missing, a damning report from the IG stated that part of the project money banked on account number 3100082 at Centenary Bank Gulu Branch was secretly transferred on April 30th this year without the express say so of the project implementers.

James Penywii, Director of Project Risk, Monitoring and Control at IG said 80 million shillings was recovered on May 5th, 2022 from a female suspect.

This was after a whistleblower informed the IG authorities.

Penywii says the suspect had earlier withdrawn 190 million shillings on May 4 from an account at Centenary Bank, Bwaise Branch. IG investigations reveal the money had been transferred to account number 3202610167 at Centenary Bank Bwaise Branch where the suspect identified as Brender Nakalanzi is a signatory to the account.

Nakalanzi was remanded to Luzira prison for causing the government a financial loss after appearing before the Anti-Corruption court chief magistrate, Joan Aciro, and pleading guilty. Nakalanzi is accused of stealing 270million shillings.

Penywii says that the suspect claimed that she was offered a contract for the construction of community centers and fencing in Zone 1 in Lamwo district.

However, he says investigations proved the contrary and he adds that they have already written to the Public Service Commission to interdict the implicated OPM officials pending the completion of their ongoing investigations.