By Andrew Irumba
Kampala: The Inspector General of Government Irene Mulyangonja has directed Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) stalwart Proscovia Salaam Musumba to refund money she allegedly embezzled when she was the Kamuli district Chairperson.
Musumba, who is FDC’s Vice Chairperson for Eastern Uganda, allegedly misappropriated Shs4.7Million during the time she served as the Kamuli district Chairperson five years ago. Musumba served as the Kamuli district chairperson from 2012 to 2016. But she is said to have used her position to lobby and acquire Shs10Million from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), that was meant to support the education sector in her district, only to divert the money to her personal business. A whistleblower back in 2015 approached the Inspectorate of Government with a number of corruption allegations against Musumba, which included among others the CAA funds and another amount she allegedly received from State House and misused.
Musumba was also accused of threatening to dissolve the District Service Commission (DSC) for failure to take her instructions. The instructions were allegedly forcing the District Chief Administrative officer (CAO) to pay for computers that had been donated by diplomats, as well as receiving fuel allowances while at the same time drawing fuel from the district.
However, when reached for a comment on Tuesday, Musumba denied knowledge of the IGG investigations and told us she hadn’t received any communication from the government ombudsman. But according to papers from the IGG’s report, Musumba did write to the CAA Executive Director in October 2014 seeking financial support towards education improvement in Kamuli. A few weeks later, CAA sent a cheque of Shs10million to the district.
Musumba however, requested for the same amount to be transferred to her, and the request was cleared by the District CAO, Felix Cuthbert Esoku. The money, according to the IGG, was received by Musumba’s personal friend, one Ben Luswata, who on her instructions, used the money to pay for a children’s party. The Shs10million remained unaccounted for until June 2015 when the CAO directed the Human Resources Officer to deduct it from Musumba’s salary. “By March 2016 when Musumba’s term of office ended, a total of Shs5, 263, 556 had been recovered, leaving a balance of Shs4,736,444,” the IGG report reads in part. As such, the IGG recommended that Musumba should be made to refund the remaining Shs 4.7Million to the Inspectorate of Government Assets Recovery Account.
