Kwania District speaker on spot over alleged extortion from job applicants

15 November 2023, 12:27 pm

By Radio Apac

Police at Kwania Central Police station is investigating Mr. Christopher Agum the Kwania District Speaker over the allegation of taking bribe from job applicants.

In the 2022/2023 Financial Year, Kwania District Service Commission recruited 326 Primary School teachers (Education Assistant II), 31 Primary School head teachers, 15 Askari and 15 potters, 6 Office attendants, District Commercial Officer and Senior Health Educator among others according to the recent District State of Affairs report presented by Kwania District Chairman Geoffrey Alex Ogwal.

However, Agum Christopher Kwania District Speaker is being accused of receiving a sum of 15 million shillings from some of the job applicants in the guise of getting them employed.

It is suspected that Agum who is also the LCV male councilor of Akali Sub County under (UPC) party ticket took 2.5 million shillings each from six applicants who had applied for a teaching job at Kwania District Local Government contrary to the law.

Tonny Oyitakol, a resident of Omanobye village in Apoi Sub County, Apac district said when he applied for a job in Kwania, the district speaker Christopher Agum took 500,000 shillings from him and told him to pay the remaining balance of 2 million later with the promise of lobbying for him a job, however the district speaker started declining his calls recurrently raising suspicion.

Moses Muhindo, the Officer in charge Kwania Central Police Station confirmed receiving the complaints of extortion of money against the district speaker.

Muhindo said police has so far opened a case of extortion against Agum on GEF 04/2023 and two people have so far recorded statements as investigations continue.

When contacted for a comment over the matter, Kwania District Speaker Christopher Agum acknowledged receiving the bribes from only one Oyitakol.

Agum however said several politicians in the district took money from job applicants, blaming his accusations on political conspiracy.

The Uganda Anti-Corruption Act, 2009, has defined the scope of corruption in terms of its various manifestations such as solicitation, offering, giving and acceptance of any goods of monetary value or other benefit for personal enrichment, embezzlement, bribery, nepotism, influence peddling, fraud, forgery, causing financial or property loss, false accounting, neglect of duty, corruptly procuring tenders, diversion of public resources, conflict of interest, impersonation and illicit enrichment among others.

A recent report by the East African Bribery Index, a governance tool developed by Transparency International to measure bribery levels in the private and public sectors in the region, have shown a persistent increase of Ugandans that perceive corruption in Uganda as high and on the increase.