Engineer pinned on bribes

May 27, 2009

THE Judicial commission of inquiry into corruption in Mbarara district has found that the assistant district civil engineer, Christopher Muhwezi, has been sitting on payment vouchers.

By Abdulkarim Ssengendo

THE Judicial commission of inquiry into corruption in Mbarara district has found that the assistant district civil engineer, Christopher Muhwezi, has been sitting on payment vouchers.

The vouchers are for contractors who refuse to give him a bribe of sh80,000 for him to approve them. An unsigned voucher of sh4m for Twins Construction Services that he allegedly refused to sign was found on his desk.

“Sitting on somebody’s voucher because he has not given you money is corruption,” the commission chairman, Peter Mulira, said.

“These are some of the causes of costs on construction going up everyday,” Mulira added.

Another exhibit, an engraving stone, was also found on Muhwezi’s desk after he allegedly refused to release it because the contractor had failed to pay him sh80,000.

Muhwezi, who appeared before the commission sitting in Mbarara Municipal Council Hall on Tuesday, has worked in Mbarara for six years.

The commission also discovered that sh5m was spent on construction of a five-stance pit latrine at Mwizi Health Centre IV yet the work done was not worth the money.

“These are latrines which anybody in the village can construct at home,” the commission lead counsel, Cheborion Barishaki, said while showing a photograph of the latrines to the commission.

Muhwezi said many companies have done shoddy work in primary schools and health centres in the area he supervises. They include Bamujuni and Cosma Builders, Mugume Contractors, Patra Construction and Twine Construction Services.

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