Court Orders Bishop Kabushenga to Refund Shs405m in Unaccounted Donor Funds

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A court has ordered Dr Hamlet Kabushenga Mbabazi of the Free Methodist Church to refund Shs405 million in donor funds that were allegedly not properly accounted for in projects run by the Community Health Initiative for Child and Family Development (CHIFCOD).

Kabushenga founded CHIFCOD in 2016. The case arose from complaints by several funders, including Uganda Development Initiative, Kirima Limited, the Protestant Church of Eppingen in Germany and CHIFCOD Enterprises Limited, over the management of money intended for the organisation’s education projects.

The funders told court that John Rutherford, a member of Kirima Limited, visited Nyakabungo and Kirima primary schools in 2019 and found that the main halls at both schools and a laboratory at Great Lakes High School were incomplete, despite funds having been released for the projects.

They accused Kabushenga of engaging IBB International Limited to prepare progress reports that allegedly indicated Shs179.4 million had been spent on the main hall at Kirima Primary School and Shs207 million on the hall at Nyakabungo Primary School.

The plaintiffs also alleged that the institutions had outstanding tax obligations to the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA), despite funds having been released to settle the liabilities.

The Observer