By Mike Rwothomio
Many Alur subjects are crying foul after a suspected con man reportedly solicited money from them in the name of the Alur Kingdom. #WhisperEyeNews
The suspect who has been identified as Pastorey Wanican, disguised himself as one of the ministers in Alur Kingdom.
He reportedly solicited Ugx 12000 each from the victims between May 17 and 15th of this month.
Victims say the suspect ensnared more than fifty people from different places with the promise of bringing each of them dairy cattle. He also left his contacts.
Eric Ocungi, a cobbler at Awinjiri cell, central ward Paidha town council said the man came and gathered records about their family backgrounds before requesting money from them for registration.
He added that the suspect picked one pair of shoes and never paid up to to date.
” We indeed thought he was a genuine person because he was huge and talked with a lot of confidence. he picked up our details and gave us an assurance that we were going to get the cattle immediately. In addition to our Ugx 12000, he also picked a pair of new shoes from my shop on credit” Ocungi said.
Darkness Ngabipara, a tailor from Oboth Village Omua ward Paidha town council said the suspect came to them on the 17th of last month and solicited money from four of them together.
He said they are requesting the Kingdom to clear the air on the incident.
“He came when we were four, he asked us a lot of questions about our way of life before pulling his headed paper to register our names. We gave him money whilst asking a few questions and he later gave us his two telephone numbers. It’s now one month and he doesn’t pick up our calls. Let the kingdom explain to us whether they have such a person” The frustrated Ngabipara told the whispereye news.
According to another resident of Paidha town council Walter Opar, he was easily duped by the suspect whom he said looked genuine whilst conducting their registration.
Alur chiefs under Alur Kingdom last benefited from heifers donated to them through the office of the prime minister in 2021.
By press time, several phone calls to the suspects’ telephone numbers went unanswered.
Getting a clear response from Alur Kingdom executive director Vincent Orach proved futile by press time.
But a highly placed source at the Alur Kingdom who is not allowed to speak to the media revealed that such an activity is not being carried out by the Kingdom apparently, and he advised the affected persons to launch a complain formally at the Police for immediate investigation.
Recent research undertaken by Innovations for Poverty Action found that in Uganda, 47 percent of digital financial services users have experienced a fraud attempt via phone or SMS in recent months.
