By Our Reporter
To the public, when Jotham Taremwa was still the Electoral Commission Spokesperson, he was just another of the comfortable government job holders. He was as boisterous as they come. He carried with him a bigger than life air. And it never made sense to many. But to the few who were close to him and his counterpart, boss and friend, Sam Rwakojo, it was because of the wealth he was hastily amassing courtesy of his position as Head of Public Relations at the Electoral Commission. According to sources in the E.C, The level of financial mismanagement and theft of public funds at the Electoral Commission during Jotham Taremwa and Sam Rwakojo’s tenure was unprecedented.
“The Secretary and Jotham working together most of the time seemed to have thrown caution to the wind as they shamelessly stole government money. Any attempt to advise them would meet the sternest reaction mixed with blackmail and outright threats. They pranced about the offices like Gods who would strike your career dead if you so as much questioned any of their actions,” explained a source.
Sources intimated to us that Sam Rwakojo and Jotham Taremwa accumulated unexplained wealth which they used to brag and demean their E.C colleagues as “not being hard working”. Mr. Taremwa built and completed a multi-million house in his home village of Kanyaryeru in a period of less than one year. This was in addition to acquiring farm lands in various other parts like Sembabule and Wakiso. When we delved into the investigations, we found a number of transactions where the Secretary and Jotham allegedly connived to swindle public funds under investigations at the E.C
According to sources, Ush.173,890,000/- was requisitioned by Mr. Taremwa for Development of an Electoral Commission Communication Strategy and the payment authorised/made in May 2014 for Consultancy Services for Development Of An Electoral Communciations Strategy.
“To-date, the purported communication strategy is nowhere, and has never been executed, and there is no record whatsoever of a robust communication strategy worthy of that amount of payment ever surfacing. It was a guise under which money was carefully siphoned out of the E.C,” he explained.
