Kitgum Town Council has today sacked its acting Town Clerk, Rhoda Oroma.
In an emergency session of the council, speaker after speaker accused Oroma of arrogance, poor working relations with politicians and staying in office illegally. The councilors say Oroma, who was appointed after the suspension of the former Town Clerk for financial mismanagement, should have left office after three months. They say she flaunted local government regulations by staying in the position for more than a year.
Rhoda Oroma says she is the victim of a witch hunt. According to her, the only reason the council wants her out of the job is because she has managed to tighten the reins on public spending in Kitgum Town Council and has brought sanity back to the accounts office.
Richard Ojara Okwera, the LC3 chairperson of Kitgum Town Council, says this isn’t true. He says the council needs to recruit a substantive Town Clerk who can make binding decisions for development.
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Despite his insistence that the sacking of the acting Town Clerk was merely procedural, Richard Ojara also accuses her of arrogance.
The Speaker of Kitgum Town Council, Walter To-Oroma, however says there was nothing personal about the decision to dismiss Rhoda Oroma.
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The bad blood between the Town Clerk and the council dates back to her appointment. Conflicts between the two parties has led to the stalling of important public projects because the political wing refused to work with her.
Walter To-Oroma says he expects the acting Town Clerk to leave office immediately.
Rhoda Oroma refuses to be silenced. She says she inherited numerous problems when she took over the office that led to the closure of the council accounts for non-payment of tax and a debt of more than 45 million shillings to GAPCO petrol station. The station was the main fueling point for town council officials.
Oroma says she found that private vehicles owned by some of the councilors were drawing fuel from the Town Council account. In another instance, official vehicles were drawing more than 100 liters of fuel daily to operate within the small town council.
The council generator was also consuming 25 liters of fuel daily even when power from national grid was on.
Oroma says when she took steps to correct these anomalies, she was threatened with dismissal.
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Oroma says she will not leave the office without a fight.
The Kitgum Chief Administrative Officer Godfrey Okaka calls the decision of the council unfortunate. Okaka says this is the second time the council has rejected a public officer acting in the Town Clerk’s position.
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He has directed Rhoda Oroma to hand over the office immediately and take up her position as Assistant Chief Administrative Officer.
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