Africa-Press – Uganda. The State House Anti-Corruption Unit has intervened in the ongoing investigations over the ownership of properties of Gate of Hope Education Centre, a community-based organization (CBO) in Kyenjojo District.
The team led by Col Edith Nakalema, on Monday pitched camp in Kyenjojo to find out the allegations against Ms Lillian Kemigisa, one of the executive members of the organization over transferring and registering CBO and its properties into her names without authorisation of other executive members.
She is also being accused of registering the organization as a company by guaranteeing in her names with new directors without a resolution by executive members appointing her to register it.
The organization was founded in 2014 by Ms Honorata Wasowska from Poland but Kemigisa steered the registration process.
It is located in Kyenjojo and has started a number of projects including six schools and two churches.
Ms Kemigisa was last week arrested by State House Anti-Corruption unit personnel and was remanded at Kigo Prison pending investigations.
She is also being accused of registering one of the secondary schools, Ngezi-King David High School, in her name.
According to Honorata, between 2007 and 2008 she started fundraising from Polish donors, and in 2013, she decided to start an organization but gave the responsibility to her in-law Kemigisa to register it because she was based in Uganda.
“Kemigisa became my in-law after she married brother Pawel in 2010 and went to Poland, when they decided to come back to Uganda in 2012, I and my husband Peter gave her the authorization to start and register an organization of Gate of Hope on our behalf and this was in 2013. Kemigisa did not initiate this idea of starting the organization, it was me and my husband,” she said.
She said after registering the organization in 2014 as a civil society, she was given a list of six people to be included on the executive committee including Kemigisa and her husband, Honorata, and her husband, and the other two members.
“In 2020 when we came to Uganda, we were unable to go back because of Covid-19. Together with my husband and other executive members we decided to find out the operations of the organization and that’s when we discovered a lot of irregularities,” Ms Honorata said.
She added that they discovered that Kemigisa declined to register their organization as an NGO instead she opted to register it as CBO, it lacked policies, misused funds, and some of the assets such as vehicles and five motorcycles were registered in the names of her relatives.
Ms Honorata said her in-law also went ahead to write a letter to the immigration office in Uganda seeking to have her Visa canceled in order to be deported back.
“She also wrote to the CAO Kyenjojo District asking him to revoke our organization certificate and we don’t know why she was doing this,” she said.
The district leaders with the members of the organization organised several meetings to resolve the matter with Kemigisa, but she allegedly refused to attend.
However, in August Ms Honorata wrote a letter to relevant authorities in government that attracted the attention of the State House Anti-corruption unit to investigate the matter.
Col Nakalema said the Anti-corruption unit will continue investigating matters against Kemigisa advising that the executive members of the organization need to write to the Permanent Secretary Ministry of education for further guidance.
“Kemigisa is being accused of theft of the assets of the organization including a motor vehicle, motorcycles, original registration documents, and land purchase agreement of the organisation,” she said.
Col Nakalema said the State House Anti-Corruption unit is also hunting other four relatives of Kemigisa with whom she connived.
Some of the organization’s properties include; ECD institute for teachers, God’s Grace Nursery school, Timothy Vocational institute, King David Nursery, and primary school, Ngezi King David SS, Gate of Hope Nursery, and two churches.
