Kampala, (UG): A top Member of Parliament who subscribes to the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party has gone off the public scene after coming to notice that she was conned over 700 million shillings in a fake gold deal.
Hon Chekurut Rose Emma, the Woman Member of Parliament for Kween District in eastern Uganda is the latest victim of the now-famous gold scams in the country.
Information that has been made available to this publication from the legislator’s close friends indicates that she lost the money to her fellow MP identified as Hon Fadil Twalla (also from NRM) who represents Tingey County in Kapchorwa District, also from eastern Uganda.
This publication also understands that three to four months back, Hon Twalla approached his friend Hon Chekurut and told her about what was termed an ‘exciting’ gold deal.
It is reported that Hon Chekurut trusted the fellow being for the fact that both MPs hail from the eastern Sebei region. “Hon Chekurut had no money but the deal was going to have a lot of profits she went to money lenders and borrowed some money to facilitate the deal,” one of her close friends to Hon Chekurut reveals.
The friend adds that at the time, Hon Chekurut had only shs 150m in her bank account, which she used to secure a loan of shs 600m from money lenders. Insiders from her camp say she put her posh house in Namugongo and her Toyota Land Cruiser V8 as security to money lenders to access the money.
“She was to pay back the money in a short time to avoid too much interest,” says another close friend. The source says after a few months, she waited for billions of money from the sale of gold but all in vain. “She started calling Hon Twalla but he could not pick up her calls and her heart started panicking,” another friend says.
Later, Hon Chekurut made her investigations and found out that the gold deal was a total hot air.
A very close associate and friend to the Woman MP recalls; “She first fainted after learning the deal was never there. Her fears were where to get all that money from and the time of payment was due.”
“This woman went into hiding to first get relief from this trauma. She can even die, all her phones are off even her family members don’t know where to trace for her.”
The friend says in the turn of events, the MP went into hiding and has now missed Parliament for close to five months. Another friend says, the money lenders took the car and they are soon evicting people from the house so soon she will be homeless.
When contacted to ascertain the absence of the Hon Chekurut from parliament, the Spokesperson of the August House, Mr Chris said he was not aware of that but promised to find out from the speaker about the reports.
“I am going to find out if it is true that she has missed Parliament for six months and if she asked permission from the speaker,” Mr Obore said.
The law of parliament states that should an MP miss six months without a reason known to the Speaker, her/ his seat is declared vacant and the EC organises fresh elections.
We further reached out to Hon Twalla (the accused) on the phone for his side of the story and he completely denied having conned Hon Chekurut Rose Emma the said amount, let alone in a fake gold deal.
“My brother first and foremost, I don’t know that information and I have never dealt in gold business and I don’t have any knowledge,” Hon Twalla said in a telephone interview, adding that he had even taken a long time without communicating with Hon Chekurut.
Information made available to this publication indicates that 1/4 of our MPs lose their assets to money lenders due to unpaid loans, and some in bogus deals hoping to amass quicker wealth.
“Most of the MPs engage in business they have never done with the aim of gaining a lot of profits and they end up losing everything,” says a source from Parliament.
Recently, a former MP Aspirant was arrested over fraud in a flopped mercury deal
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Daily Express
