Members of the Kitgum Taxi Owners and Drivers Cooperative Society Limited (KITODSL) have called for immediate elections of new leaders, citing widespread allegations of financial mismanagement and poor governance within the cooperative.
The demand was raised during a heated meeting held at Kitgum Main Park on Tuesday, where drivers and vehicle owners accused the current leadership of failure to account for members’ contributions.
They alleged that the current leadership has been misusing cooperative funds and that it has intimidated members who ask for accountability. The alos also fault the leadership for recruiting a manager without advertising the position.
Amos Ochora Gaddafi, one of the members, told Uganda Radio Network that there has been little transparency on how the money is utilized since 2022, when the current executive members assumed office.
Gaddafi accused the leaders of corruption in following the route charts by buses. According to Gaddafi, several buses without route charts on certain days bribed the executive members to lead passengers and stay in the park longer than their charts, causing taxi owners to lose clients.
Gaddafi added that repeated requests by members to access loans from the cooperative have also been declined by the cooperative’s executive committee.
He said now, members are being told there is only 10 million shillings in the group’s account, yet in 2023, they were told during their Annual General Meeting that their account had 30 million shillings, and the audit report presented to members this year started from 2023/2024, leaving out other years.
Geoffrey Christopher Komakech, the vice chairperson of KITODSL, said despite complaints by members, the cooperative has been growing steadily, with 31 members when it was formed in 2014.
Komakech said when the current leaders took office on November 11, 2022, there were only 170 members, with only 40 members saving with the cooperative, and the group had an expired certificate, but now they have 240 members.
Komakech denied claims of a lack of accountability, saying the cooperative holds an AGM where they report to the members how the savings are being used. He, however, acknowledged that the members are not shown the bank statement.
Komakech explained that indeed the cooperative had more money in their account, but when the buspark was relocated from Central Division to Pandwong Division in July 2025, they used more than Shs 20 million to construct a five-stance drainable latrine and an office for the cooperative.
Komakech said on 29th April, 2026, they reported for loss of their original byelaw and placed an advert for the loss and adoption of the byelaw in a newspaper, and a special meeting will be held once the advert is out, to get minutes from members and let them register in the new byelaw, before election of new members takes place at a date scheduled on 29th of May 2026.
Charles Dawin Opoka, the Kitgum Municipal Commercial Officer, noted that the executive was not doing certain things right, such as failing to file annual returns.
Opoka, however, advised the members of the cooperative who have genuine complaints to put them in writing so that an investigation can be instituted to ascertain the claims.
“I have heard this issue for the past two months. The members say they don’t trust their executive, but they don’t have a written petition of their claims,” Opoka said.
He added that although the members say they want a new leader elected, it should be done in accordance with the laws, because the term of the current leaders expires in December 2026.
“Even if the election is done now, the law will nullify it. Our interest must not jump over the law,” he added.
Joseph Okidi, the assistant RDC of Kitgum in charge of Chua County and Kitgum municipality, directed the current leaders of the cooperative to start by providing the members with copies of their group’s bank statement, to rebuild the lost trust.“The bank statement of an association is a public document and should not be treated as a secret to the members,” Okidi said-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
