By MISAIRI THEMBO KAHUNGUCFr. https://www.monitor.co.ug/SpecialReports/How-Kasese-widows-used-Shs50m-Museveni-cash/688342-4814676-v96k90/index.html
When President Museveni in February donated Shs50m to widows who lost their husbands during the November 2016 Kasese attacks, hopes were high that the funds would make a life-changing contribution to the affected families.
Their husbands were killed during the army raid on Rwenzururu Kingdom palace and administration officers in Kasese Town between November 26 and November 27, 2016.
More than 150 people, including children, were killed in the attack that saw King Charles Wesley Mumbere and about 200 others arrested.
The money was lobbied by Kasese Municipality MP Robert Centenary and delivered by Bukedea Woman MP Anita Among.
There was excitement among the 34 earmarked beneficiaries, whereas there was protests among those who were not listed as beneficiaries.
The 34 widows living in Kasese Town are taking care of about 120 orphans. This newspaper investigations established that there are at least 120 widows, more than 200 orphans and two widowers from across the region.
Exact number not known
However, there is uncertainty on the exact number since the kingdom does not have a royal guard census record that would indicate the size of their families.
Delivered in a lump sum of Shs200m, Shs50m was specifically for the 34 widows, and the rest was for motorcycle boba boda riders and some other organised women groups in markets in Kasese Municipality.
The widows, under their association Kasese Municipality Abakwakali Thukolerehaghuma Sacco, were given Shs50m, the boda boda riders got 10 motorcycles and women in the markets shared Shs150m.
While delivering the money, Ms Among as an emissary of the President asked the widows to use the funds in a revolving system so that it is not spent at once. The money was banked in Centenary Bank into an account allegedly belonging to the office of the area MP, Mr Centenary.
“We do not expect you to put the money to waste, but to use it for the betterment of yourselves and the communities at large. This is a revolving fund supposed to benefit beneficiary after beneficiary,” Ms Among said then.
Where is the money?
A few days after Ms Among had left, the widows stormed Mr Centenary’s office demanding that they are handed the money so that it is shared. The MP first rejected their demand, asking them to open an account for their Sacco account to which the money would be transferred.
However, after too much pressure from the widows and from his party, the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), who accused him of dinning with President Museveni, Mr Centenary withdrew the money and handed it to the widows.
Ms Peace Kabugho, the chairperson of the Sacco, said following pressure from the widows, the money was handed over to them by Mr Centenary and it was shared among themselves. Among the beneficiaries were 34 widows and 60 wives of detained suspected royal guards. The condition was that each of these women was to take home Shs510,000.
“We distributed the money to the widows because they cried there was no one taking care of the homes. The MP advised that we include women whose husbands were in prison because they equally had problems. The women said they would start up small businesses and keep saving in the Sacco,” Ms Kabugho said.
A quick multiplication of Shs510,000 by 94 beneficiaries shows that at least Shs47.9m was given out to the widows and wives of detained suspects. The remaining Shs2.06m, this newspaper has learnt that it was agreed Ms Kabugho takes it as token for her lobbying when she met President Museveni in State House, Entebbe to discuss their plight. She, however, denies taking the Shs2m on the top of her share of Shs510,000.
Meanwhile, this newspaper has also established that after receiving the money, the beneficiaries spent it on basic needs without forming small scale businesses as promised.
They failed to save in the Sacco as they had promised after rejecting the State House idea of a revolving fund.
Ms Kabugho revealed that since February, the Sacco treasury has only received cumulative savings of Shs500,000 from 34 active members.
“I have to tell the truth that no widow would get Shs510,000 and start whatever small business when the children are starving and being chased away from schools for school fees. I have two Senior Four candidates who needed registration fees and school fees. Other children are in primary school. So it was little money for all women,” she said.
It is difficult to trace these widows because they are scattered around Kasese Town unless when the Sacco meetings are held.
Success story
Ms Rafairina Biira, one of the widows of Timothy Mukududu, a Rwenzururu Kingdom royal guard from Bwesumbu Sub-County, told Sunday Monitor that she and her co-wife, Mary Kabugho and their five children, were surviving on casual jobs around Kasese Town when the presidential support was delivered.
“Kabugho is my relative and we got married to one man. When he died, it was me the first wife to take care of Kabugho, her child and my four children. When we received the money (Shs1.02m for two people), we started a small business of selling tomatoes in the market. We used part of the money to rent coffee plantations in the village, which we are about to harvest,” Ms Biira said.
She appealed to the President for more financial assistance.
MP disappointed
Mr Centenary, the area MP, said he has lost track of the money given to the widows and wives of detained suspects because unlike the boda boda riders and women in markets, this group rejected a revolving fund system.
“They ate all the money and it was finished. Their leaders have been coming to my office asking me to assist them by going back to the President but I cannot do that because they disappointed me,” Mr Centenary said.
Support from other sources
Support to orphans. Rwenzori Information Centres Network (RIC-Net), a non-governmental organisation based in Fort Portal, has been supporting at least 35 orphans from across the region.
Mr John Silco Murugahara, the RIC-Net executive director, revealed that they have been supporting school-going children with scholastic materials, and sanitary towels for girls on a termly basis, whereas those out of school have been enrolled on vocational skills training.
Also, Big Heart Foundation, a charity group in Kasese Municipality, supplied food stuffs, soap and sugar once to only the widows in Kasese Municipality.
Mr Samson Bagenda, the chairperson of Bwesumbu Sub-county which lost 29 people, leaving behind 38 widows and 187 orphans, told this newspaper that the families are in dire need of help since the breadwinners died.
He said most widows were left with uncompleted houses and others in bad state, whereas others have no land of their own.
Mr Bagenda said since the attacks, his Sub-county has since organised the widows into a group through which they have received clothes and food supplies from Uganda Women Network, Justice and Peace Commission from Kasese Catholic Diocese, Kasese Guide Radio and some churches.
He said some of the orphans are on the brink of dropping out of school because their mothers cannot afford to pay school fees hence a call on well-wishers to come to their rescue.
