UGANDA: THE FINANCE MINISTRY OFFICIALS, MINISTRY OF TREAD TOURISM, MS ODONGA OTTO CO. ADVOCATES NAMED IN FRAUD UGX 10 BILLIONS

Four group members of East Acholi Cooperative Unions Society have accused a former Member of Parliament for Aruu North of swindling UGX 3.1 billion, as the mafia took over the management of primary society unions.

East Acholi Cooperative Society Jenney started way back in 1951; we should get an independent Auditor because the Ministry of Industry has an interest.

The cotton export to Germany is $500 billion, we are poor, our population cannot pay our children and yet these people are even getting the money, we need to engage East and West, you can see the management.

M/S Aceng Hellen, the advocate of Odonga Otto and Co Advocates in the parliamentary report of the sectoral committee on ministry of Tourism, Trade, Industry on the inquiry into the governance of and value for money for budgetary and appreciation for Cooperative she informed the committee that the state witness of from MTIC drove himself up to Kitgum and picked UGX 1.3 million from Acaki hotel in 020 for onward delivery to the chairperson of the verification committee Mr. Leonard Kavundira, and another UGX 60 million to the finance teams of the ministry of Trade in Kampala   

GULU CITY-WED. AUGUST 25, 2025.

By Okumu Livingstone Langol

Okema Christopher Amic, petitioned Parliament Public Account Committees accusing the General Manager of East Acholi Cooperative Union of corruption worth UGX 6 billion, and named the former MP for Aruu North Odonga Otto for not accounting of over UGX 1.5 billion advanced to the East Acholi Cooperative Union Ltd.

“I am standing here with my three other co-petitioners official before Parliament of Uganda to tendering our petition accusing East Acholi Cooperative Union General Manager of destroying 118 primary societies founded in 1951, the Union organized with the General Manager in 2019, when the AGM was held, where by the General Manager Mr. Opira was asked to leave office. Since he could not account for UGX 10 billion allegedly provided by the government, the General Manager also failed to account for UGX 1.5 billion for the Cooperative Union received by former Aruu MP, Mr. Odonga Otto.”

On August 3, 2025. The Public Account Committees held their hearing in Gulu City chaired by the Kilak MP, Gilbert Olanya, and another committee member of Public Account Committee Hon. Okin PP Ojara, the MP for Chaw West, Kitgum District.

In 1998, H.E Yoweri Kaguta Museveni sent UGX 1.4 billion as part of war debt claimants to East Acholi Cooperative Union, B.F Okello was the Chairman, he colluded with other top Union members, the likes of Ochan George, Okot Jalon who was the Treasurer of the Union, The union organized an illegal meeting and came up with a fraud document used to swindle the money which was sent to Kitgum East Acholi Cooperative Union.

Added that more than a billion money of Cooperative Union Society was misused dated October 2024. In May 28, 2025 AGM meeting was called so that all 118 cooperative Union Societies Members are to elect their chairman, and calls for accountability since the current General Manager’s term to be in office has expired. When the General Manager learned about the turn, he together with the Chairman called off the AGM meeting insisting that there was travel to attend an abrupt meeting in Gulu City, later we made the appointment for yet another AGM meeting on the 4^th June, 2025.

Since there was an arrangement that has been made between the Union and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development and the Secretary Manager and the Chairman. Hellen Aceng, the Chairman of East Acholi Cooperative Union, learned that she was going to be arrested to account for the loss of East Acholi Cooperative Union, so she fled to Canada.

“There was conspiracy to defraud East Acholi Cooperative Union worth UGX 3.1 billion and more UGX 1.6 billion.

Since us, the members of the primary grassroots of Society, are not in terms and conditions with the Union. The Chairman who we elected passed on in 2020, the law states that elections should be conducted after six months.

We have capacity to put the Jenney back to work, the petitioners should be allowed to call all the 118 delegates that cover Agago, Pader, Abim, Kotido and Karenga districts, they took the particular of the primary societies and their policy.” Okema Amic, the lead petitioner stressed.

East Acholi Cooperative Society Jenney started way back in 1951; we should get an independent Auditor because the Ministry of Industry has an interest.  Given the opportunity we can work out to organize all the delegates, East Acholi Cooperative Union Society.

The entire structure of Jenney was put down during the war of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) that destroyed Puranga Jenny located 49-kilometer North of Kitgum Municipality on Kitgum-Lira highway.

However, the land management with the Union, the lead petitioner Okema Amic asked the Parliamentary Public Account Committees to allow the institution to have the culture of buying produce in East Acholi.

Mr. Okema Amic accused the Secretary General and the Chairman of East Acholi Cooperative Union of making clandestine moves to disband all the Cooperative Union Primary Society Members by denying them new registration. But they registered 12 societies online to remain as the backbone of the primary society of East Acholi.

“Even if Jesus comes today, nobody can temper with us. Because the term of office has expired in 2019.”

Secretary of the Public Account Committee asked the respondent Edward Komakech Ojara to respond to the accusation.

Edward Komakech Ojara, says he did not have an invitation to appear before the Parliamentary Public Account Committees sitting in Gulu City, “We don’t know who we should appear for, I only got to know the petitioner, what I am going to say now in respect to the petitioners.” Mr. Komakech Ojara responded back.

He furthermore stated today there is no record where they have gone, it was just in May 2025, when they took us to Kitgum District Residence Commissioner (RDC), office. Calling the four petitioners, those are defiance members who do not want to follow the law. I have all the required documents, to add on to this, I have the anti-corruption official from the Office of the President addressed to Kitgum District East Acholi Cooperative Union.

“Turning to accuse the four petitioners that the work is going on in their primary society, what they are talking now before the Parliamentary Public Account Committees, because they have been sideline, we are not killing the Union.” Secretary General Manger rebottled.

Hon. Okin PP Ojara, the area Member of Parliament for Chwa West, Kitgum District where East Acholi Cooperative Union is located, told the Chairman of Parliamentary Public Account Committees, and Hon. Gilbert Olanya that the petitioners from Kitgum say they want to remind themselves that there are four ways the parliament Public Account Committees are sent to discuss issues.

The plenary where you all may be on, where his or her second work method is through a committee’s work, they present to parliament. We have petitions presenting to parliament their roles of duty to access and write the petition, we have our parliamentary Public Account Committee Lawyers that their duty is to write such petitioners.

Stressed that any committees of parliament should be respected, committees sitting at the level of Uganda High Court Judges, I want to tell you that somebody has never known you before. For sure, there is a lot of work that has been done to unions, the unions were destroyed during the northern Uganda conflict.

For example, assets, the vehicles, the machines in West Acholi and East Acholi Cooperatives Unions UGX 11 billion was given by the government. But Mbale Cooperative Union alone got UGX 20 billion, the Western Uganda Cooperative got 15 billion.

“This has to be set right, as an MP for Uganda, I want to assure that this is to be corrected.” Okin PP warned.

As Committee of Public Account, I want to question why Puranga Jenny is not functioning, why subsidiary society is not functioning. The cotton industry in Northern Uganda has shifted to Western Uganda in Kasese District and yet Acholi Sub Region was leading in cotton production in the 1960s.

The cotton export to Germany is $500 billion, we are poor, our population cannot pay our children and yet these people.

According to the parliamentary Hansard dated October 2020, report of the sectoral committee on ministry of Tourism, Trade, Industry on the inquiry into the governance of and value for money for budgetary.

According to report of the said, o 25^th August 2026, the sectoral Committee on Tourism, Trade and Industry received instructions from the Speaker of parliament to conduct inquiry into status, governance resource and value for money for public funds allocated to Cooperative during the period of financial years 2011/2012 -2022 and 2023. The Committee has effectively carried out the inquiry as instructed and now reports are as follows below:

The background

Between 1964 and 1990 the government supported Cooperative Financing through the Cooperative Bank, after restricting the banking industry, several Banks were closed including the Cooperative Bank.

The government undertook to compensate all depositors the full amount of their deposits, over and above insurance limits of USD 2000. Thus, the linearization of the economy led to closure of the Cooperative Bank and due to losses arising from the 1979-2006 wars, some regional and national level tertiary Cooperative Unions collapsed. These include Uganda Cooperative Central Union.

Uganda Cooperative has Transport Union, the Cooperative Insurance of Uganda and the Cooperative Bank Financial Services, Uganda Credit Cooperative Union for all SACCOS. The government took a decision to revamp the Cooperative through compensation for the losses including the liberation wars of 1978-79 and 1986.

An inter-ministerial Committee was put in place to verify the claims received from the Cooperative for compensation. The initial compensations were made by the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, later on the MTIC was tasked with the responsibilities of getting the war compensation claims from various Cooperative societies as approved by parliament.

East Acholi Cooperative Union ltd started in 1951 Guu ward Ginnery Paidwong Division, Kitgum, Lamwo, Agago and Pader Districts, it’s a member based secondary level Cooperative Union.

According to the Verification Committee report, the Union Submitted that the liberation war between 1978-1979 and 2006 eroded the business and assets base of East Acholi Cooperative Union and affected its productivity.

The Chairperson of the Union, MS, and Aceng Hellen according to the report of the Parliamentary Committee received by Our Correspondent indicated Aceng Hellen as the Manager. She informed the Committee that MTIC who advised them to use his services to claim for war loss compensation, it was her submission that when she, on her behalf the Union, objected to the same, the said law firm instituted a suit against the Union for Non-compliance.

Subsequently, the Union was forced into signing a consent with the Law firm to wit the law firm would retain 30% of the monies. Mr. Leonard Kavundira. Aceng further informed the committee that UGX 60 million was brought to the Finance teams of the Ministry of Trade in Kampala.

In a bid to substantiate the claims of the leadership of the Union, the Committee established that there was indeed a civil suit initiated against the East Acholi Cooperative Union Ltd and the Attorney General by Hon. Odonga Otto and MS Odonga Otto Co. Advocates under miscellaneous cause No. 285 of 2020 pursuant to which a consent Judgement was extracted instructing the Union to pay 30% to the said claimants in the suit.

The committee asked the Minister to substantiate the allegation made by the Union that had conditioned them to use M/S Odonga Otto and Co Advocate as then representatives for imposes of war loss compensation.

In response the Minister stated that “Hon. Odonga Otto said “I come from the place, I have a law firm, why don’t you allow me to get a job.” He further stated that, “They could have easily refused, I did not force them, but Odonga Otto is a Member of Parliament, he is a colleague … like you came, if you want to be assisted, you are a Member of Parliament, I will treat you differently and then I give them an option, well this is a Member of Parliament, you use him, I did it… that one I cannot deny, but they had an option to refuse?” the Minister of Trade submitted the wrong.

Incidentally, the Committee noted that as soon as the leadership of the Union consented to use the legal services of M/S Odonga Otto and Co Advocates, the Union was paid.

The attempt to contact the Minister of tourism, Trade and Industry for comment was futile, nor Hon. Odonga Otto, and M/S Aceng Hellen Odonga for verification of the information attributed.

Hon. Omony Ogaba, the former area MP for Aruu County, in the 7^th parliament, when contacted for comment, decried for the big losses East Acholi Cooperative Society Union. Wonder why such incidents happen and affect community development.

Hon. Omony Ogaba, reason that those people mentioned in the theft of East Acholi Cooperative Union must be brought to book.

“Let those thieves be accountable for losses they encored to the primary societies, theur assets must be grabbed.” Omony Ogaba mooted.