PRIME Minister Kassim Majaliwa has ordered the immediate prosecution of four officials from the Kigamboni Municipal Council and four employees from the Treasury Single Account (TSA) at the President’s Office-Regional Administration and Local Government (PO-RALG) for alleged embezzlement of 165.6m/-.

Additionally, he has suspended Annie Nyabugumba Maugo from the TSA due to her involvement in a transaction that transferred funds from the PO-RALG to the Kigamboni Municipal Council.

Majaliwa made the directives on Sunday while addressing employees of the Kigamboni Municipal Council as part of his two-day official visit to the city.

The decisions followed an investigation conducted by a team he appointed to examine the allegations, alongside a special audit by the Controller and Auditor General (CAG) to verify the claims.

The investigation uncovered that the implicated employees had been misusing the Treasury Single Account to conceal funds, contravening the account’s intended purpose.

Majaliwa explained that on September 5, 2022, three dishonest PO-RALG employees colluded with officials from the Kigamboni Municipal Council to transfer 165.6m/-, which remained in the TSA for a year without the knowledge of the Council’s Director or other department heads.

“These individuals convened in Dodoma during a financial review for the Council and colluded with finance officers, including Aidan Mponzi and Adora Mwombeki Mbalilaki, to transfer the funds with the understanding that they would later be returned,” he stated.

He added that the funds were utilised without notifying the Council or including them in its budget, leaving other department heads unaware of their existence.

Upon discovering the embezzlement scheme, the investigation team questioned Kigamboni District Executive Director Erasto Kiwale, who admitted he was unaware of the funds.

The DED then asked the Head of the Finance Department, Geofrey James Martin, who acknowledged the funds’ existence but failed to return them.

When questioned, Martin claimed the money was intended for the Management and Development for Health (MDH) initiative, although even the District Medical Officer did not know of receiving any funds.

During further inquiries, Martin confessed that the funds were transferred by PO-RALG employees under an agreement to return part of the money post-transfer, stating the Council had not been informed due to the irregular nature of the transfer.

The investigation revealed that 105.6m/- had been spent on road improvements leading to the Lingate dump, paid in three instalments: 77.5m/- to Konya Investment Company Ltd, 28.1m/- to Mbogolo Investment Company, and 2.4m/- as a supervisor’s allowance.

Majaliwa reported that when the investigation team visited the project site and spoke to project supervisor Godwin Adamson Cheyo, they learned that the road was constructed using soil rather than gravel, and the total project costs did not exceed 30m/-.

Further findings indicated that the contractors involved lacked the necessary qualifications and were merely used to funnel the funds.

Notably, Jonathan Manguli, an accountant for the Kigamboni District Council, was a signatory for Mbogolo Investment Company and shared the same address as Konya Investment Company Ltd, raising concerns of a conflict of interest.

The Prime Minister commended the Kigamboni Municipal Council for suspending implicated employees and dismissing others involved in the allegations.

“I commend you for taking action, particularly the Director. When informed of these irregularities and convinced that these funds did not rightfully belong to you, you instructed their return. However, due to their scheme, this did not happen,” he said.