A misunderstanding has erupted between the Fort Portal Woman Member of Parliament Linda Irene and the Youth Council Chairperson North Division in Fort Portal city, Patrick Amanyire Kasoro, over a donation of chicks from the office of the State Minister for Luwero and Rwenzori Region.
According to Amanyire, in 2021, he wrote to the Minister of Luwero Alice Kaboyo requesting for support towards the youth of North Division through a poultry project. He says that the project was to benefit over 250 youths who had organized themselves in groups.
He says that the project was meant to help the youth be self-employed and raise income since most of them had lost jobs due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The youth chairperson says that the ministry approved their request and offered to give them the chicks and on December 29 last year the first batch of 5,000 chicks out of the 15,000 that were requested for was delivered to Fort Portal for distribution.
However, Amanyire claims that Hon Linda hijacked the project and received the donation on his behalf but never informed him about it.
He claims that upon receiving the poultry, the Woman Member of Parliament distributed them to people from Central Division specifically her political assistant, agents, family and friends instead of giving them to the intended beneficiaries who are the youth groups in North division.
Amanyire has now written to the office of the Minister expressing disappointment in the actions of the Member of Parliament and requested that the next bunch of the chicks should be delivered directly to the beneficiaries.
Adolf Asiimwe one of the youth from North division says that he is now stranded because he had borrowed a loan from a local savings group to set up a poultry house hoping that when they poultry arrive he would make profits and be able to pay off the loan.
However when contacted, Hon Linda told URN that Amanyire is a confused person who doesn’t mean what he says. She says that Amanyire contacted her to help him push the agenda since she was an MP and could easily access the office of the minister.
Linda revealed that she played a big role in making sure that the chicks were delivered and she kept informing Amanyire about the progress. She adds that even on the day of distributing the poultry, Amanyire was present and agreed on the people that were to take the chicks.
She says that as a Member of Parliament it is her role to lobby for her voters and that is exactly what she did by ensuring that the poultry were delivered.