Kole residents to petition ministry of LG on the misuse of road equipment and funds 

Kole | A section of residents of Kole district have begun collection of signatures to petition the Ministry of Local Government on what they describe as misuse of road equipment and road funds in Kole district.

The residents intend to make several demands in their petition. One of their demands is for the Kole district leadership to explain how the district road equipment, which several sub-county leaders in Ayer sub-county were told was being repaired in Lira City, was actually hired out for private use.

“We have observed several times that when road equipment have been indicated to be under repair they have been found elsewhere undertaking private work. Roads in Kole district are not being prioritized despite availability of funds.

“We demand that all Kole district road equipment outside the district be returned immediately back to Kole district to undertake pending works”’ one of the parish councillors stated.

The petitioners further want the CAO of Kole district to explain why over shs400m of Kole district road funds including funds for the last financial year remain unaccounted for and unutilized despite the poor conditions of sub-county and district roads

They also demand that the Ministry of Local Government discipline him (CAO) for negligence of duty.

Additionally, they are also calling for the acting district engineer of Kole to explain if he has refunded over shs100m road funds that he was directed to refund by the IGG in a public notice made in April 2023 and the auditor general report for financial year 20/21.

They want a substantive engineer to be appointed for Kole district with more responsiveness to the plight of the locals.

They further want that the Local government accounting regulations (LGAR) for 2017 to be enforced and all district persons to whom road funds have been advanced but haven’t accounted for should not receive any more advances till they retire their accountabilities to zero.

Persons who are vote controllers with pending accountabilities should step aside, they demand.

The petitioners further want the CAO of Kole district to explain why over shs400m of Kole district road funds including funds for the last financial year remain unaccounted for and unutilized despite the poor conditions of sub-county and district roads.