The special assistant on veterans affairs for president Museveni Col. Jacob Asiimwe has had a rough time before the public accounts committee of parliament when members quizzed him over the rising
numbers of beneficiaries under the ‘Akasiimo project for people who contributed to liberation war.
The Office of the Prime Minister is supposed to reward civilians who contributed to the liberation war that ushered in NRM government but members were surprised by the initial number of beneficiaries shot up from 30,000 to 80.000 shillings.
The beneficiaries were meant to share 30 billion shillings in the financial year 2014 but the amount was also increased to 158 shillings to be shared among the 80.000 beneficiaries during the same year .
MPs including Mathias Mpuuga Masaka municipality and the committee chairperson Angeline Osegge tasked Col Asiimwe to explain the circumstances leading to the rise and when the government was
planning to put a cap on the list of beneficiaries.
In his response, Asiimwe said that the rise was caused by the need to incorporate other volunteers such as FRONASA and other groups that aided the military to fight extremism in the early days of peace.
He has given assurance that after clearing the pending 17,000beneficiaries, the “akasiimo project” will come to an end.