By Micheal Atwakiire
Sheema:Minister for science innovation and technology Hon Elioda Tumwesigye Katsyamutwe, who is also the Sheema municipality Member of Parliament, is alleged to have disrupted a tax waiver of Shs51M for the Rwabutura Church of Uganda new church project, something Christians in the area regard as sabotage.
Rwabutura Church of Uganda is found in Kagango division Sheema municipality and it is now building a new magnificent church and other structures in the area.
Recently, a Rwabutura Church of Uganda stakeholder known as Richard Muhangi wrote on various Sheema District social media platforms accusing Minister Tumwesigye of allegedly having sabotaged their tax waiver.
Muhangi in his writings, alleged that “I received the shocking news of the sabotage of our tax waiver(mentioned above) by our Municipality MP Hon. Dr. Elioda Tumwesigye.
As a xtian and a leader, this tantamotunts to pulling our efforts and holding us into stagnation for his plight to remain glorified.
As you all know, in a bid to mobilize resources from all sources and to cut costs where we can, I took an initiative, after consulting with our committee and the Archdeacon as well as the diocese,to request the Minister of Finance to grant us a tax waiver on roofing, which would reduce our budget and enable us to achieve our roofing target by Dec. 2019.
Having realised that it might not be possible if i met the Minister alone, i shared with Hon. Jacklet for support and she welcomed the idea. Hon Jacklet fixed an appointment with Minister of Finance to request for this waiver. As you all know, we met with the Minister and the *WAIVER WAS GRANTED* I was put as a person to follow up with the ministry to secure our tax waiver authorization letter to deliver to Uganda Baati.
As i followed up, i observed lack of communication and mismatched in what was originally promised. I again asked Hon. Jacklet to follow with the Minister direct. By that time, i had visited the ministry for over 10 times but getting different info. *Until when Hon. Jacklet Informed me that she has received information from Minister of Finance Hon. Matia Kasaija that our Hon. Elioda went and told him to disregard/delay offering us a waiver. That my self I went to his constituency Archdeaconry where he has strong hold and if we delivered such a waiver, his votes will be affected. So, I shouldn’t be granted the waiver or he should be given time to see how to handle it etc. (focolare.org) ”
However, this touching write up has sparked off fire in Sheema district especially in various media houses.
However, Tumwesigye refuted the allegations and stated that he wishes only good for the church project. He made good his word by fulfilling his pledge of 100 bags of cement which he had pledged some months ago. But After delivering those 100 bags of cement to the church, some stakeholders wanted him to take his cement back and threatened to transport it back to his home, to express their dissatisfaction with him.
