PAKWACH: TWO DISTRICT LEADERS DETAINED ON ORDERS OF RDC FOR EMBEZZLEMENT OF DDEG & UWA RETENTION FUNDS WORTH 16.3M

Just Breaking in from Pakwach district; The Resident District Commissioner (RDC) of Pakwach District, Mr. Paul Eseru has Ordered for arrest of two District Staff for misappropriating over 16 Million of government funds under the The Discretionary Development Equalization Grant (DDEG) and UWA retentions Funds. Following the above orders,  the former Assistant Secretary and Assistant Auditor of Pakwach were arrested yesterday by the RDC. The two are currently detained at CPS Pakwach for further interrogations.

According to Paul Eseru the Pakwach RDC, sanctioned their arrests after he discovered that project retention funds worth 16.3 million shillings were missing from the three sub-county accounts namely the General fund account, development account and UWA revenue sharing account.

The two were arrested from Pakwach Sub county,  from were the two had been attached as the the former Assistant Secretary and Assistant Auditor.  According to a phone interview obtained by Dailywestnile.info, The two were first stripped off of their position at Pakwach Sub County and later asked to present the five years

The Discretionary Development Equalization Grant (DDEG)

 and UWA funded project reports. 

Based on the audited reports, it was discovered that a sum of 16.3 Million of the DDEG and UWA retention funds were missing.  

The RDC Further confirmed the arrest on a tweet in which he tagged the President and the relevant state authorities. It was only found out that the retention fund account had 1.1 Million remaining in the account and the rest of the money missing could not be well explained.

The RDC's uptake of the matter arose after the continuous demand of the account audits failed to be handed reached and presented to the Sub County Authorities by the mafious who had been doing dubious deals in funds embezzlement. It was believed that the two had been conniving to embezzle funds meant for the sub county over the past years. 

WHAT YOU NEED TO NOTE ABOUT DDEG FUNDING

As of Monday, October 11, 2021, Pakwach District had received funds from the Government of Uganda under DDEG, URF, Non-wage unconditional grant, Recurrent non-wage , Operational fund/CBSD, UCG-NWR and support to production sector to be used for the acquisition of works , supplies and services. The District therefore invites sealed bids from eligible bidders for the mentioned requirements. 

The Discretionary Development Equalization Grant (DDEG) The DDEG is a grant which started in FY 2016/17 after consolidating: The equalization grant; Local Government Management Service Delivery Program (LGMSDP);Peace Recovery and Development Plan (PRDP); Luweero-Rwenzori Development Program (LRDP); and Uganda Support to Municipal Infrastructure Development (USMID)

The grant is being managed by the Ministry of Local Government which is a lead agency for implementation of Regional Development Programme under NDP3. The DDEG is the only grant for LGs that :Is not earmarked to a particular programme; and Provides non-earmarked fiscal resources to the LGs to allow them to plan and prioritize their local needs.

The objectives of the DDEG are to:Enable LGs to allocate funds to priority local development needs that are within their mandate and are consistent with the National priorities by provision of discretionary development funding.Provide LGs with equitable access to development financing, ensuring that more disadvantaged LGs receive additional funding to enable them catch up with the rest of the country.  In doing so, the grant is the Equalization Grant provided for in the Constitution Article 193 (4); Provide development financing which caters for the differing development needs of rural and urban areas. Improve LGs capacities and systems for provision of quality services. This is through rewarding good performance & sanctioning poor performance; coupled with performance improvement support to address areas where LGs have gaps.

STORY BY: ALDO & OTIM MOSES - PAKWACH - DAILYWESTNILE.INFO