Kagadi District Officials Under Fire for Alleged Misuse of Road Equipment

Summary:

• Road committee in Kagadi district calls for suspension of engineering department members over alleged misconduct in leasing out machinery for private use. Ministry of Works retrieves equipment and condemns the act. MPs demand decisive action as police launch investigation into the matter.

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Members of the roads committee, led by Kagadi district’s Woman Member of Parliament Jennifer Kyomuhendo Mbabazi, have called for the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Pauline Opio Opodoi to suspend members of the District engineering department amid allegations of misconduct.

This move aims to facilitate a police investigation into the matter.

The district engineers are accused of collaborating with operators of road equipment to unlawfully lease machinery for private projects.

The controversy surfaced after a grader, registered as UG 1706W, was found operating on a private site at the Bukinda Small Hydropower Project in Buhumuliro Sub County two weeks ago.

Pivy sources told Examiner that the grader was leased to the project by its operator, Ambrose Tumwine, and the turn man, Deo Bamanya, along with other unidentified district officials.

It’s alleged that the equipment was rented to the project at a cost of one million shillings.

In response, officials from the Ministry of Works conducted an impromptu visit to the district last week, subsequently relocating the road equipment back to their headquarters in Kampala.

Fred Byamukama, the State Minister for Works and Transport, condemned the incident, describing it as wrongful, criminal, and illegal.

Byamukama noted that despite the government allocating 1.138 billion shillings to the district for road maintenance, over 600 million shillings remains unutilized in the district account.

He suggested that this unused funding could be returned to the consolidated fund.

Expressing dismay, Members of Parliament, including Barnabas Tinkasimire (MP Buyaga West), Hon. Eric Musana (MP Buyaga East), and Jennifer Mbabazi (District Woman MP), called for decisive measures against the mismanagement of road equipment.

They urged the suspension of suspects, as the district leadership plans to convene with ministers of works and transport in Kampala to address the grader saga.

Resident District Commissioner Lillian Ruteraho highlighted the lack of supervision of local government employees in Kagadi District.

She pointed out that many employees are exploiting government equipment for personal gains, at the expense of taxpayers’ money.

Meanwhile, District Chairperson Ndibwami B Yosia assured that the police would conduct thorough investigations to identify all officers involved in the scandal of leasing the grader for private work on April 21st of this year.