Mbale City authorities are in trouble after failing to explain to Members of Parliament on the Public Accounts and the Local Government committee, the criteria that was used to select beneficiaries of the Covid-19 cash.
On Wednesday, the authorities led by the City Town Clerk David Kyasanku, the Resident City Commissioner Pamela Watuwa and the City Mayor Kassim Namugali failed to explain to the MPs why the names on the list were not in the categories of beneficiaries prioritized by the government.
Also noted by the committee members is that among the beneficiaries were the village health team members and the support staff of Mbale City Council among others.
This forced the MPs to also question the age group and gender of some people who were categorized as food vendors and Boda Boda riders.
This is after it was cited that Debora Nandunga aged 85, Dickson Mushika 85 and Rose Nabutiti aged 86 were categorized as Boda Boda riders and Abasi Mafabi aged 75 was categorized as a food vendor in Mbale city.
According to Kumi Municipality MP Silas Aogon, some people received the relief cash because they are related to the officials who were collecting data and that there was no coordination between the office of the town clerk and that of the Resident City Commissioner.
Ahmed Wandera, the City Intelligence Officer said that his office only verified less than 1,500 names out of the over 9,000 beneficiaries who received the money.
Deputy Town Clerk of Mbale City, Kenneth Khatuli Woniaye, argued that the list of the beneficiaries was compiled in a rush due to time constraints.
