Kabale: Deputy town clerk flees to China after embezzling Shs 414m

Ryakarimira town council assistant town clerk, Alex Ampeire, who is accused of embezzling over Shs 414.28 million has fled to China according to State House Anti-corruption unit which has taken over the investigations.

Ryakarimira town council is located in Ndorwa West County, Kabale district in western Uganda. Ampeire is alleged to have withdrawn Shs 105 million from the town council account, which was meant to pay the contractor, FAMDEC Technical Services Limited after the completion of works at the multipurpose hall but did not pay the contractor.

He later admitted to diverting the money for personal use and promised to refund the money but failed. A forensic audit revealed that Ampeire secretly withdrew Shs 249.28 million that was meant for various projects, including road works, remittance of 25 and 5 per cent for local council I and IIs, development of the town council physical plan, and construction of staff quarters, among others.

Officials from the State House Anti-corruption unit made an impromptu visit to the town council headquarters and discovered that in the 2017/2018 financial year, Ampeire spent Shs 60 million on roofing condemned staff houses pending demolition.

Fatimah Namukwaya, the deputy director anti-corruption operations under Internal Security Organization (ISO), says that all the files the police in Kabale were handling, in addition to what State House Anti-corruption unit officials physically observed, will be analyzed. She adds that soon, another team from the same unit will visit the town council to conduct more investigations.