RUBANDA: Officials say no school received iron sheets from Minister Musasizi

RUBANDA, UGANDA: As the drama surrounding the Karamoja iron sheets scandal continues to take a new twist, iron sheets that were allegedly received by the State Minister for Finance in charge of General Duties Hon Henry Musasizi are still yet to be distributed to the beneficiaries or returned to the office of Prime minister as President Museveni directed.

The Office of the Prime Minister indicate during the financial year 2021/2022, the Department of Karamoja Affairs obtained a supplementary budget to support the Peace and Disarmament exercise in the sub-region and part of the budget was spent to procure iron sheets for the vulnerable communities in the region.

In February, this year, Musasizi who is also the Rubanda East Member of Parliament confirmed that he received 200 iron sheets and handed them over to the Kakore-Rugambwa catholic parish priest Rev Fr Herbert Agaba to be the custodian of the iron sheets and help in the distribution of the iron sheets to the interested beneficiaries.

Rev Fr Agaba would later confirm receipt of the 200 iron sheets from Musasizi and that they were distributed to St John’s Ikumba primary school, Rwamugura Catholic Church and Bugiri Annex Church School after identifying them to be in need of the iron sheets but the administrators of these schools refuted receipt of the iron sheets.

Fr Agaba however later changed his position and refused to make a comment on the iron sheets claiming that he didn’t want to betray Minister Museveni who delivered the iron sheets and referred our reporter to the Musasizi who declined to comment.

Now the Rubanda District Inspector of Schools Mr Gerald Akambasa has said after thorough investigations, he has no report on any learning institution that has received any iron sheets labelled the office of the prime minister.

He says after receiving claims that some schools received iron sheets, he took an initiative to find out which schools received them in vain.

Ms Lilian Ruteraho, the Rubanda Resident District Commissioner speaking to DailyExpress said that her office has no information about any institution or individual that has received free iron sheets labelled the office of the prime minister.

Without disclosing a lot, the Rubanda District Internal Security Officer Mr Michael Mwijukye confirmed that the iron sheets are still in Rubanda District but he never revealed where the iron sheets are stored.