Members of Bukulula Sub-county Coffee Farmer’s Cooperative Society Limited in Kalungu district are divided over the management of a grant they received under the Agriculture Cluster Development Project- ACDP.
In 2019, the cooperative received Shillings 235 million under ACDP that is implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries to construct a coffee processing plant and stores to support their value addition capacities.
However, some of the members of the cooperative are dissatisfied with the way the money was spent. They accuse their leaders of misusing the grant. During their special meeting held on Friday, the members called for an audit to establish how the money was spent.
Sulait Mukasa, the Secretary-General of the Cooperative, says that the past leaders that received the money failed to put it into proper use hence not meeting its purpose. According to Mukasa, even the coffee hurlers that were procured using part of the funds are of poor quality and can hardly process coffee.
Charles Masembe, the Vice-Chairperson of Cooperative’s Governing Committee has asked the District Production Officer to initiate investigations into the past leaders of the cooperatives for connivance to misappropriate part of the money. He argues that despite receiving a huge sum of money, the cooperative did not benefit from funds.
Yusufu Nsubuga, the Bukulula Sub-county Coffee Farmer’s Cooperative Board Chairperson, accuses his predecessors of cooking up their handover report.
Jonathan Bazanye, the former board treasurer denies allegations of financial impropriety, saying that they deliberately inflated the figures in their application to meet the government requirements to access the funding.
Paul Kiyemba, the Kalungu District Production Officer who supervises the ACDP beneficiaries, says that his office has picked interest in the growing division in the cooperative, saying he is going to study the conflict and find a solution.
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