Africa-Press – Uganda. Kibuku Resident District Commissioner (RDC) , Ms Margaret Mwanamoiza Kikomeko, has launched an investigation into the alleged misuse of Universal Primary Education (UPE) funds by some head teachers in the district.
“As a leader, and overseer of government programmes, I got an allegation about the just released UPE funds that they had just been shared instead of doing the intended prime objective. This prompted my office to call for a crisis meeting with the chairperson Parents Teachers Association (PTA) and school management committee (SMC) for all government-aided schools to ascertain the truth,” Ms Mwanamoiza told Daily Monitor last week.
She said during the meeting, the stakeholders agreed to give a comprehensive response on the funds within one week.
Ms Mwanamoiza said the head teachers were supposed to notify the PTA chairpersons, SMCs upon receiving the money and well hold a finance committee to discuss the proposed school budget.
“I will be able to share with you [media] the report once it has been done but for now, an investigation is on-going,” he said.
Sources allege that after the schools received the funds for the three quarters, the head teachers shared about Shs153 million with political leaders.
“All head teachers were ordered to make contributions based on the amount the [school] had received and indeed this was done,” a source said.
“A section of politicians are sharing the money which would have been used for fencing of schools, procurement of desks, and construction of pit-latrines,” the source added.
However, during the meeting with the RDC, the school administrators denied the allegations.
The district education 0fficer, Mr Christopher Wamika, dismissed the allegations, saying they were intended to undermine the department .
“This is just politics at play, but people should understand that politics is over and should desist from maligning falsehoods against officers without substantial evidence,” Mr Wamika said.
Mr Wamika said those intending to carry out a forensic audit should visit various schools, carry out the physical and paper accountability to ascertain value for money.
The district chairman, Mr Mohammed Nakeba, said nobody had come up to complain.
“We are investigating the source of this information because those are merely rumours until proved beyond reasonable doubt that some teachers had diverted the funds. These allegations are under investigation by the Office of the RDC, and once it is done, we shall inform the public of the findings,” Mr Nakeba said.
