UCA managers embroiled in office abuse scandal

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Tension is high in the top leadership of Uganda Cooperative Alliance Limited –UCA amidst accusations of fraud, impersonation and abuse of office, among others.

The tension climaxed on Monday morning when the UCA general secretary, Ivan Asiimwe forcefully broke into his office where he was ejected from to pave way for investigations.

He is jointly accused with the UCA board chairperson, Johnas Tweyambe on a number of issues related to accountability, governance and maladministration.

On Thursday last week, Joseph William Kitandwe, the registrar of cooperatives societies wrote to Asiimwe and Tweyambe basing on the report from UCA members asking them to handover office to pave way for investigations.

“UCA Ltd has been embroiled in a series of operational, accountability, governance and management challenges. A rising out of these issues, an investigation was conducted by a team of some board members. The report affirms that indeed there are serious challenges which include fraud, uttering false documents, impersonation, failure to comply with legal statutory requirements which have indicated huge sums of unpaid remittances to URA with probable fines and penalties to the institution, among others,” reads Kitandwe’s letter.

The letter was copied to the Trade Minister, Industry and Cooperatives, Amelia Kyambadde, State Minister for Cooperatives, Fredrick Ngobi Gume, UCA General Secretary Asiimwe and all UCA Ltd Board members. Kitandwe indicates that it was found imperative to have in-depth investigations about the affairs of the institution.

“The initial findings point to the Chairperson of the Board and General Secretary of UCA Ltd as being at the centre of the frustrating conduct of business at the Cooperative Alliance. Therefore, for purposes of conducting a fair and transparent investigation, the two officers are hereby directed to step aside until further notice,” Kitandwe added.

After receiving Kitandwe’s letter, the UCA Board Vice-Chairperson, Ismail Jacan Oyenya wrote to Asiimwe, on Friday, October 25 asking him to handover office and stay away until investigations are concluded.

UCA’s Finance and Administration Officer, Sam Odeke, ordered all staff members to leave the building at Nkrumah Road by 5 pm and instructed the head of security, Haruna Ssesera, to ensure that everyone was out by the said time.

Ssesera told Uganda Radio Network –URN that he was surprised when Asiimwe arrived at 7 am yesterday morning and broke into his office with the help of his driver. A visiter to UCA revealed a tense situation as Asiimwe had locked himself inside his office with some other people.

Police from Nkrumah Police Post dashed to the offices after Ssesera opened a case of office breaking. A police Corporal deployed at the entrance of the General Secretary’s office, UCA’s Communication Officer, Brenda Karungi and Odeke declined to speak to the media on the matter.

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URN