Two Ntungamo District Engineers Arrested

Two Ntungamo district Engineers were on Wednesday arrested for alleged misappropriation of funds.

The suspects are , Charles Kushemererwa, the District Engineer and his Deputy Moses Twiine.   Their arrest followed the inspection of roads by the Deputy Inspector General of Government Anne Twinomugisha Muhairwe.  She was accompanied by the LCV chairperson Samuel Mucunguzi and the district police commander.   

During the tour, it was discovered that two road projects meant to be maintained with first-class murrum and a standard drainage were not completed despite the release of 620 Million Shillings. 

The roads that were supposed to be maintained using the force account were Omugyenyi-Kasanda (10.4 kilometers at 400 million shillings) and Kagarama-Rukarango-Rwamabondo road (14 kilometers at 220 million shillings).

The road maintenance works were supposed to include grading, full murrum, and installing of new culverts, but only bush clearing and spot murruming were done.

Twine, who is also the force account manager, failed to present both the bills of quantities and the quarterly schedules of the program for the funds released.

The two officials were criticized by residents for the poor quality of work on the road.

Emily Nabaasa, the councilor for Rwamabondo District, told the IG that they petitioned the RDC about the state of the road, but no action was taken.

Gracious Byamugisha a resident of Omugyenyi informed the IG that during the road maintenance groundbreaking ceremony, the community was informed that the road would be widened to 6 meters, but this was not fulfilled.

Muhairwe accused Twine of failure to present the documents. She also questioned his qualifications for the job. 

Muhairwe assured residents that the office of the IGG was committed to fighting corruption and ensuring value for money and better service delivery. 

Ntungamo district has a budget of 600 million shillings annually to open and maintain district roads. The district has a road network of over 2,000 kilometers. 

The district has been under scrutiny for corruption scandals, especially in the health sector, after it was discovered to have over 30 ghost health centers and health workers.