Lyantonde Police Arrest SACCO Leaders Over Alleged Mismanagement of Emyooga Funds

Lyantonde Police Arrest SACCO Leaders Over Alleged Mismanagement of Emyooga Funds

Police in Lyantonde District, acting on the instructions of the Resident District Commissioner’s (RDC) office, have arrested the chairperson and secretary of Kabula United Tax Operators Emyooga SACCO over allegations of mismanaging members’ funds.

The suspects are Hassan Kabugo, the chairperson of Kabula United Tax Operators Emyooga SACCO, and Zikusooka Farouk Sande, the SACCO secretary.

Their arrest followed complaints from SACCO members who reported to the RDC’s office that their leaders could have mismanaged or diverted SACCO funds.

The RDC, through his assistant Abel Muhendo, summoned SACCO members to a meeting to establish how the group was being managed.

During the meeting, members said they had repeatedly visited the SACCO office seeking information about the management and use of their funds.

Muhendo first asked the SACCO leadership to produce documents relating to the operations of the SACCO. He then directed the SACCO secretary, Allen Kamuntu, to present records showing how the Emyooga funds had been spent.

According to the records presented, the SACCO had received more than Shs50 million from the government. The group reportedly generated an additional Shs20 million in profits, while about Shs35 million was reportedly disbursed to members as loans.

The records also indicated that about Shs18 million had been used to purchase a SACCO vehicle, among other expenditures.

However, during the presentation of the financial records, the Assistant District Commercial Officer, Nathan Kasigala, together with RDC Assistant Abel Muhendo, halted the process after reportedly identifying inconsistencies in the expenditure records.

The SACCO chairperson and secretary objected to the decision, arguing that the treasurer should first be given time to complete the presentation of the financial report.

The secretary, Farouk Zikusooka Sande, and chairperson Hassan Kabugo maintained that stopping the presentation was unfair and that the treasurer should have been allowed to finish presenting the accounts.

Muhendo, however, disagreed and asked the SACCO chairperson to read out the names of members who had allegedly borrowed money from the SACCO.

The exercise raised further questions after some of the members whose names were read out reportedly denied ever taking loans from the SACCO.

Members then demanded that the SACCO leadership produce bank statements to establish how their money had been handled.

When the bank statement was presented, Muhendo asked SACCO officials to explain the balance reflected on the account.

The SACCO chairperson and secretary were reportedly seen examining the statement before members were informed that the account had a balance of only Shs38,000.

The revelation angered members, who questioned how the SACCO account could have such a small balance when members had been depositing money and the group had also received government funding.

Following the developments, Muhendo directed police to arrest the SACCO chairperson and secretary.

As police took the two suspects into custody, SACCO members demanded the recovery of their money, saying funds they had entrusted to the SACCO were no longer reflected on the account.

Muhendo said the RDC’s office would not protect anyone found to have misappropriated Emyooga funds.

“We are not going to protect anyone who has eaten the Emyooga money,” Muhendo said.

He added that the district would extend investigations to other Emyooga groups across Lyantonde to identify and address any cases of financial mismanagement.

The arrests follow growing concerns among SACCO members over transparency and accountability in the management of Emyooga funds.

The suspects are expected to assist police with investigations into the alleged financial irregularities.