The Inspectorate of Government is set to conduct a conclusive investigation in the Office of the Prime Minister- OPM, Eagle Online has learnt.
According to the Inspector General of Government-IGG Betty Kamya, the investigations will be conducted in three weeks.
IGG’s interests followed Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Jane Frances Abodo directive  to expeditiously investigate the Ministers implicated in the mismanagement of iron sheets that were meant to benefit the impoverished people in Karamoja.
“For the last two years, there have been a lot of relief resources allocated to the Office of the Prime Minister. The investigations will be premised on, the source of the funds, policy of distribution, delivery, storage of all relief items,” Kamya said.

In January 2023, Dr. Mary Goretti Kitutu, the minister of Karamoja Affairs who doubles as the Woman MP for Manafwa directed for the release of over 12,200 pre-painted iron sheets labeled Office of the Prime Minister to various ministers including prime minister Robinah Nabbanja, vice president Jesicca Alupo and the speaker of parliament Anita Annet Among.

The roofing sheets sparked an outcry after it was established that they were procured to benefit the impoverished people in the Karamoja Sub-region. This website established that President Yoweri Museveni took interest in the matter and directed that every government official implicated in the matter should not leave the country until the cases are disposed of.
Last week, DPP revealed that her office is working on 40 files in relation to the abuse and diversion of the iron sheets that were meant for impoverished people in the Karamoja sub-region.

Atleast three ministers including; Dr. Mary Goretti Kitutu, the minister of Karamoja Affairs and Woman MP for Manafwa; Minister of State for Finance, Planning and Economic Development Amos Lugoloobi and State minister in charge of Karamoja  Agnes Nadutu were charged and remanded for mismanagement of Karamoja roofing iron sheets.
Kitutu is facing two charges of loss of public property and conspiracy to defraud while Lugoloobi and Nandutu were charged with dealing with suspect property contrary to Section 21 (a) of the Anti-Corruption Act, 2009.

On January 12, 2023, in an internal memo to the stores’ department at the OPM, minister Kitutu ordered the release of 12,200 iron sheets to her office.
Her memo read in part, “During community mobilization and peace-building missions, I usually meet vulnerable groups and karuchunas (reformed warriors) who are willing to dissociate themselves from rustling. As part of my intervention, I will be distributing iron sheets to such special vulnerable groups.”

The memo notes that the stores’ department relied on WhatsApp messages sent by the minister’s personal assistant to distribute the iron sheets. The iron sheets were distributed from January 25, 2023, until February 8, 2023, when the release of the iron sheets was halted indefinitely.

According to the information obtained by this paper, state minister for primary education, Moriku Kaducu received 200 roofing iron sheets; former speaker Rebecca Kadaga 500; State minister for defence, Jacob Markson Oboth 300; Third Deputy Prime Minister, Rukia  Nakadama 300; Finance minister Matia Kasija 300; Kitutu Mary Gorreti 3000; Government Chief Whip, Obua Denis Hanson 300; Amos Lugoloobi 300; State Minister for Agriculture, Animal Industry, and Fisheries Bwiino Kyakulaga 300; State minister for Karamoja Agnes Nadutu 2300 and others.

Other beneficiaries include; Jessica Alupo- Vice President; Anita Among- Speaker of Parliament; Robinah Nabbanja- Prime Minister; Judith Nabakooba – Minister for Lands, Housing and Urban Development; Rose Lilly Akello – Minister for Ethics and Integrity.
This Paper understands that Nabakooba, Nandutu, Kasaija, Among have returned their shares to the office of the Prime Minister- OPM stores Namanve.

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Deputy Speaker of Parliament Thomas Tayebwa is set to grace Makerere University Youth and Innovation Expo 2023.
Launched under the theme; “Fostering Innovation for Uganda’s Transformational Development”, the expo will be held on 25th and 26th August 2023.

Speaking at the launch, Lorna Magara, the chairperson of Makerere University council said the institution is uniquely positioned to be a hub of many youth innovations through end-of-year course research projects.
She said together with UNDP, Makerere will showcase a number of youth innovations and youth start-ups which have successfully made the transition from research to commercial enterprises. Through this exhibition, we also hope to create viable forward and backward linkages that will facilitate the creation of jobs and foster entrepreneurship by supporting access to an integrated mix of finance products, business management skills and market access to young women and men entrepreneurs and youth-owned MSMEs.

“The two-day event will consist of a very comprehensive, insightful, and engaging program with a conference, a student-inspired fashion show, a showcase of student innovations, exhibitions from all University colleges, exhibitions of Innovations turned enterprises from the Youth4Business program, food courts, blankets and wine activations, MTN Pulse activations, Government of Uganda, one-stop service center to mention but a few,” she said.

Elsie Attafuah the Resident Representative, UNDP Uganda said Universities are the breeding ground for the kind of innovation, forward-thinking policies, and solutions we need to tackle 21st century challenges.
“Fostering innovation especially by the youth is key to accelerating the solutions needed to tackle development challenges head on and shape a future that is sustainable, equitable and inclusive. This is all the more important in an era where development is being defunded especially through official development assistance,” she said.

She said the relevance of a robust innovation ecosystem to a country’s economy cannot be gainsaid. A vibrant and enabling innovation ecosystem facilitates the emergence and growth of businesses and calls for increased interconnectedness and collaboration of relevant stakeholders and innovation ecosystem players in driving innovation interventions to transform Uganda’s economy.

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Hilton Foundation has extended a refugee financing grant of $500,000, (Ugx 1,870,000,000) to Opportunity Bank Uganda and FINCA Uganda to address several challenges faced by refugees including, poverty, food insecurity, and a lack of access to health and education.

Uganda continues to host refugees at an unprecedented scale, keeping its borders open to about 1.5 million refugees, including more than 860,000 children.
Under the Early Childhood Development program, Opportunity Bank will focus on Nakivale and Kampala whereas FINCA will put emphasis on Kiryandongo and Kampala, both providing finance and financial literacy to these refugee settlements.

Speaking at the launch of the program, Mr. James Onyutta – Managing Director, FINCA noted that they have spent about three years working with refugees by providing financial education and that grant support will help them to target their interventions.

The banks, he said, will not only provide very affordable financial solutions but also put emphasis on centers training children below the age of eight (08) to empower them with the skills to be able to be productive in the future.

“We’ve reached over 10,000 people in financial education. We’ve seen millions of savings in those communities and we are now also providing credit into those areas with over shs 250 million in loans.”

“Now, the first part of the project is going to be child-centered development centers to really get to learn a bit more on up-skilling the center holders or being able to deliver the right learning skills of these children, but also we’re going to work with the communities to identify those with needs. Some of the needs in those areas are really financing….most of these parents cannot afford to send their children to learning centers,” he added.

The CEO – Opportunity Bank Uganda, Owen Amanya commended the Hilton Foundation for the grant and pledged to render the refugees with more finances and financial literacy.

“We thank the Hilton Foundation, the Office of the Prime Minister, which really gives us the push to venture into refugee space. We do appreciate the International Labor Organization that has also given us some support.”

He noted that the Early Childhood Development project will be an addition to what they’ve been doing in these communities.

“We’ve really achieved some great milestones with the refugee space in terms of financial literacy, loans given, the savings we’ve been able to pick from the refugee community and the host communities and also the business potential that lies there.”

Amanya noted that a number of the refugees are trying to do business but they don’t have access to markets but also can’t scale because they don’t have capital which calls for basic teaching to come together and organize them.

“It is so fulfilling when you help them complete their value chains,” he noted.

The Opportunity Bank Head of Business, Amos Bonna noted that they are the first commercial bank with a branch in a refugee settlement.

“For us, refugee lending is not a project. It is a lifestyle that we’re going to do and in the next three years, we have planned to open more branches in refugee settlements because we believe in that model, we believe in humanitarian financing.”

At Opportunity Bank, he said, they are focused on the sector of agriculture. But stretching to education with a focus on primary – private schools and the Early Childhood Development project will be much easier for them.

He also applauded Hilton Foundation, “because we believe we cannot serve over 1.5 million refugees as an institution [but] if we all partner together and hold our hands, then we bring social change.”

According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), 60 per cent of all refugees in Uganda are children. Behind these numbers, are the individual faces and stories of children, who, in many cases, have experienced terrible, life-altering events.

Uganda is home to over 900,000 child refugees and asylum seekers who have fled conflict or persecution from South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Burundi. Of these, over 71 per cent are from South Sudan where years of fighting and economic collapse have relentlessly forced families to abandon their homes.

Most refugee children live with the trauma of having witnessed or suffered forced displacement, separation from loved ones, and physical and sexual violence. Even in refuge, many continue to be vulnerable to marginalization and violence, especially gender-based violence.

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