Frederick Ngobi Gume, the Minister of State for Cooperatives has advised the Board of Bugisu Cooperative Union-BCU to take legal action against John Wamulugwa, the former BCU Board chairperson over his continuous malicious petitions against the union leadership.
Speaking during the BCU Annual General Meeting at the coffee mill in Mbale City on Friday, Gume revealed that he receives over ten unsubstantiated petitions each month from Wamulugwa’s group against the Nathan Nandala Mafabi led board for alleged mismanagement of the union affairs.
He, however, noted that most of the petitioners are not subscribers to BCU and therefore have no basis for complaining about its affairs. Gume said that their only intention is to malign the union leadership, which affects its operations.
Nathan Nandala Mafabi, the BCU board chairperson concurred with the observations of the minister and promised to act on his advice.
Patrick Mudali and Stephen Simiyu, both coffee farmers and subscribers to BCU also welcomed the minister’s advice, saying that suing the petitioners will give them relief. They argued that BCU has failed to develop because of the endless conflicts between Wamulugwa and the current board over baseless accusations.
In December 2010, the government suspended the Nathan Nandala Mafabi led board and placed the union under a caretaker manager to pave way for investigations stemming from a petition filed by Wamulugwa’s camp.
