The minister for Relief, Disaster Preparedness and Refugees, Eng. Hillary Obaloker Onek has acknowledged the misappropriation of refugee funds by some senior government officials and some members from Humanitarian assistance organizations.
Addressing the press at Uganda media centre this morning, an angry Onek said his ministry has zero tolerance to corruption and that they are doing investigations in the wellbeing of refugees and communities.
The minister mentioned some of the contributing organizations as UNICEF, World Food Program (wfp) among others who help in improving the livelihood of asylum seekers.
He explained that food received from these organizations is distributed monthly in refugee camps with the help of WFP. He now says that if any individuals are using refugee funds for other purposes, they will be interdicted.
“Government together with Uganda Police Force is committed to doing investigations to hunt down culprits making life of refugees difficult. If we were operating in jungle law, I would have got the suspects myself, but we don’t operate like that, we have courts and police” the minister said.
He then promised that misappropriation of refugee funds is going to stop, adding that government cannot allow it to continue, and that investigations are underway.
This all started after media reports indicating that officials at the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) have been swindling money meant for refugees operations in Uganda.
The report further indicates that the Office of the Prime Minister-OPM, in connivance with Aid workers have been inflating refugee figures in order to attract more aid which is then corruptly shared. The allegations were reportedly raised by South Sudan refugees to UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, during a recent visit to Uganda.
On Wednesday, Kasilo County MP Elijah Okupa told parliament that the scandal had tarnished Uganda's image as a model in the refugee response worldwide. He said the alleged officers must be investigated in order to clear Uganda's name.
This prompted speaker Rebecca Kadaga to order the Prime Minister to take responsibility for the mess