A TESTIMONY: WILLIAM KITUUKA KIWANUKA’S CHALLENGES RAISING FUNDS FROM OUTSIDE UGANDA.
I wish to greet you in the name of the Almighty God. My name is William Kituuka Kiwanuka. I am a citizen of Uganda by birth and resident in Uganda.
I wish to send my condolences to all those who have lost dear ones to COVID - 19 and other causes, may God comfort you. At the same time I am sympathetic to all those who have lost jobs, businesses hence income following COVID - 19. May God take care of you as you find alternatives. I pray that the escalating prices partly due to increasing fuel prices eventually go down so that you can afford goods and services that can better enhance decent livelihood.
I wish to share with you my challenges as one who has since 2010 fundraised from outside Uganda for various purposes / projects, unfortunately, my bankers: the then Cairo International Bank Uganda and Barclays Bank Uganda now ABSA have never released a dollar due to me! In 2010, an idea came to my mind that I contest for the Presidency of Uganda in 2011. I did not have ready money, however, I was aware that some people from some countries made serious fundraising and were able to get resources to help them with campaign logistics. That is the strategy I took.
I wish to thank all the donors who sacrificed to fund my Presidential intentions in 2010 and 2015. It is sad that though you made that sacrifice, I was not able to stand for President in 2011 and 2016 because all the funds I raised were stolen.
In 2010 I made an appeal through email to more than 500 individuals / organizations / establishments, but my communication was cut off with the donors.
http://williamkituuka.blogspot.com/2010/09/kind-appeal-for-moral-support-and_01.html?m=1
It came to Nomination time for Presidential candidates in 2010 and all that Cairo Bank Management told me was, “I had not received funds to my Ultra Simplex Enterprises Account 000686 with them”. This unfortunately was not possible. I knew there was a dirty game.
I wrote to the Governor Bank of Uganda and copied the email to not less than 30 senior staff at Bank of Uganda, including the Resident Representative of IMF. I requested the Bank intervention to sort the matter so that I proceed to nominations. It is only the IMF Representative to Uganda who responded, unfortunately when I opened the email it was empty, showing that it had been deleted. So, I was not able to stand for President in 2011 because the funds I raised were not released to me.
Given that earlier in my career life, I had been a Commercial banker, I decided to take time to find out exactly what happened.
One day, I came across a story of a Pension Scam that was perfected in Cairo International Bank in 2010/11. I can authoritatively state that the money I raised to stand for President in 2011 was shared by some people under the guise of paying pensioners!
In 2015, I decided to try my luck once again to prepare to contest the Presidency in 2016. I went to Barclays Bank Uganda and opened an account in the name Kiwanuka Kituuka.
I then proceeded to send out emails appealing for financial support. I had worked on two blogs whose addresses I included in the appeal together with the details of my Bank Account.
http://billkiwanuka.blogspot.com/2014/10/kiwanuka-kituuka-for-2016-uganda.html?m=1
http://kiwanukaofunityinafederateduganda.blogspot.com/2015/05/kiwanuka-kituukas-appeal-for-financial_7.html?m=1
The story unfortunately was not different from my experience with Cairo International Bank. The management of Barclays Bank informed me that they had not received funds for the credit of my account.
So, on two different occasions, I was not able to to contest for the Presidency simply because the funds I raised were stolen with good knowledge of my bankers!
What surprised me is that shortly after declaring “No funds for me”, Barclays Bank changed name to ABSA Uganda.
In 2020, when a new Deputy Governor was appointed at Bank of Uganda, I resumed communication to the Bank regarding the funds I raised. Shortly after my communication to the Deputy Governor about may loss and what roles Cairo International Bank as well as Barclays played, I learnt that Cairo International Bank had changed name to Cairo Bank Uganda. So, the two banks I used to help Collect funds on my behalf have new names: Barclays is ABSA Uganda while Cairo International Bank is Cairo Bank Uganda.
What is surprising is that other fundraising (s) I have made since 2016 have not been different. In 2017 I fundraised for my former Primary School - Namutamba Demonstration. I was told that the account in Centenary Bank had not realized any credit.
http://namutambademgloryamust.blogspot.com/2017/02/the-current-state-of-namutamba.html?m=1
I have made other fundraising (s) including one on - going for Namutamba Parish Local Economic Development Model.
The system that denies me access to the funds I raise has kept the residents of Namutamba Parish impoverished. To date, it is 12 years since I first fundraised. With the money that I have not been able to access, Namutamba would have greatly changed for the better.
In the 1970’s when I used to travel from school to Namutamba I would readily get a taxi at Mityana Taxi Park between 10.00am and 7.00pm. The situation now is such that one gets to the taxi park when there is no taxi to Namutamba and he resorts to hiring a commercial motor cyclist for a distance of 13miles at a cost (one way) of $3 or more!
In our Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE), in 1973, we had 7 1st grades, these days getting just one 1st grade may be a real challenge for the school.
I really don’t understand what is going on in Uganda. I mobilize funds from outside Uganda for development initiatives and the money just disappears. In Uganda, a number of people get funds from donors for local projects they are undertaking and employ a number of people. Kituuka is victimized given his potential at fundraising! I don’t know what will happen if some of my donors came to Uganda and demanded for their money given that the rightful beneficiary never got the money. Any manager involved in the fraudulent activities through which we lose money should be ready in case recovery has to be made.
If some people keep sharing such donor funds, there is cause for worry, the young generation is the one being punished. Potential donors will completely lose trust in dealing with Ugandans given the corruption and outright theft of funds involving the banking sector. Uganda is a Highly Indebted poor country with many impoverished people. Those who would help our people out are the one’s whose funds are stolen.
Some people imagine that Uganda can be a top investment destination in Africa. How can that be when potential donors are frustrated? If the banking industry in Uganda is not cleaned to ensure transparency in the handling of In flows from outside Uganda, it is simply a sad story. Serious investors may not trust the system and will take their money elsewhere.
In my efforts to recover funds I raised in 2010 and 2015, I have communicated to all who matter in Uganda given their offices. I don’t have a serious response from any office in Uganda showing interest in my matter and having a solution.
It is 12 years since I started fundraising from outside Uganda, I have since not been able to access even a dollar from that effort. It is not clear who the beneficiaries to the monies I raise are.
These forces have turned my life into real misery equivalent to ‘hell’ on earth. What surprises is that Uganda is a country where majority believe in God, unfortunately, I don’t know what happens when funds are involved.
It does not make sense to deny me funds I raise lawfully and then the same is donated to Religious institutions, Schools, name them. My money has all along been accessed illegally and fraudulently by those who interfere with my communication, so money donated where I was beneficiary cannot be good money.
When I realized that I was not getting positive results from various appeals to recover the funds I raised, it so happened that Makerere University launched a fundraising drive to raise money to reconstruct the Main Building that was gutted by fire in 2020. I got determined to help Makerere University in raising funds for reconstruction given my experience. I did this for two reasons: 1st to help the University given that I am an Alumnus; 2ndly, to show those in Government / Bank of Uganda that I must have raised money but it was just stolen.
https://makmainbuildingreconstruction.blogspot.com/2021/04/support-reconstruction-of-makerere.html
On Saturday April 3, 2021 I got down to work on the blog for fundraising, and that same day, I believe I was able to send out about 200 emails. I am sure my efforts must have generated good money for the Reconstruction efforts of Makerere Main Building.
When I had sent out about 400 emails or more for Makerere effort, I learnt that Church House was due for auction if Church of Uganda did not pay about shs 48bn to Equity Bank.
On May, 3 2021 I embarked on making a blog to help the fundraising efforts to save Church House. I belong to Church of Uganda and I was confident that I would help in raising funds for Church House. I hope Church House will not be auctioned.
Why has Uganda failed to get to the Middle Income status?
I think some people in NRM are not patriotic. We know that there is a Government sector and the private sector. The population of Uganda is growing so fast. In 1984, Uganda had just over 12 million, in 2020 it was over 42 million. The private sector is supposed to play the leading role in employment of Ugandans. What I am seeing is that this sector is being killed by Government, yet the Government of Uganda has no capacity to manage all the components of the economy given that it employs less than 1 million people. The way to go is for those players in Government (policy makers) to love their country and wish it well. Uganda cannot keep exporting cheap labor because Government is able to earn some billions from it. This labor can be deployed locally if the private sector is not killed. It is known that majority of Ugandans are badly off. Some Ugandans are committed to help our fellow Ugandans, but when we raise funds from outside sources, the money is simply stolen, you may equate some of us to local investors, unfortunately, those who want free money do not give us chance to bail out fellow Ugandans.
I felt that I needed to tell you what I am going through. May be Government may change its approach. I can never be an enemy of Uganda. I cannot be party to efforts to destabilize the country. I have seen enough of the bad in Uganda history. I almost died in the 1979 war at Kajjansi. I was in Jinja when Obote II and Lutwa Governments were overthrown. Ugandans need peace and well advised policies to better their lives.
For the residents in Namutamba Parish, I am sorry for what they are going through. I mobilized resources specifically to help bail them, unfortunately, 12 years down the road, no funds have been released to me.
I am an asset for Uganda, but some people have turned me to trash.
I have been comforted by the Scripture: 1 Peter 5: 7
“Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you”.
FOR GOD AND MY COUNTRY
No comments:
Post a Comment