Lwengo Officials On Spot Over UGX 56M

Janat Nabateregga, the Lwengo Town Clerk

Three officials of Lwengo Town Council are on the spot for allegedly embezzling 56.5million shillings meant for paying the power bill for the water station.

Janat Nabateregga, the Lwengo Town Clerk
Janat Nabateregga, the Lwengo Town Clerk

They are Janat Nabateregga, the Lwengo town clerk, Stuart Ssekajubo, the town engineer and former town clerk Anatoli Bukeera. In September, UMEME disconnected power to the water station after Lwengo town council failed to clear the power bill amounting to 56.5 million shillings.

Some residents suspect that the three officials could have embezzled the money.

The failure by Lwengo town council to clear the water bill has triggered a severe water crisis. A 20 liter Jerry can of water now costs 1000 shillings.

Twaha Mawanda, the Chairperson Lwengo Water User Committee says when they tasked the former Lwengo district water officer and Lwengo town council to explain why the electricity bill was not cleared they were informed that the money was released but it was not remitted to UMEME.

Mawanda wants the implicated officials arrested to refund the money or clear the power bill to have the water supply restored.

Maria Natukuunda, a resident of Lwengo claims that the water scarcity has forced water vendors to hike the price of a water Jerry can from 200 shillings to 1000 shillings.

She says her family is going without drinking water because she cannot afford the high cost of water given her low income. Joseph Kataranga Ssemanda, another resident claims that due to the water scarcity they are now consuming water from unprotected springs, which exposes them to infection.

Tushabe Nzabanita, another resident claim that due to lack of water he spends 7000 shillings within two days to buy pampers for his two- months- old baby girl.

The water crisis has also affected the four mosques in the town council. Imams at the mosques claim they spend at least 50,000 shillings every day to buy water from vendors for the Muslims to cleanse them before their daily players.

Stuart Ssekajugo, the Lwengo town Engineer who is directly accused of having a hand in the failure to clear the power bill has refused to comment on the matter.

Janat Nabateregga, the Lwengo Town Clerk says they are looking for funds to clear the debt. Nabateregga however declined to explain how the money that was released by the town council to clear the power bill was spent.

About Post Author