Four Kotido municipal officials arrested over misappropriation of road funds

KOTIDO - Four Kotido district officials were on Friday (January, 9) arrested over alleged misappropriation of one billion shillings (sh1b) meant for the rehabilitation and maintenance of roads within Kotido Municipality.

The suspects are Emmanuel Okaja (town clerk), Gasper Okidi (senior civil engineer), Deo Akello Nyanga (senior internal auditor) and John Bosco Lokure (assistant inventory officer).

They were arrested by the State House Anti-Corruption Unit (SHACU) working together with the Criminal Investigations Directorate and Office of the Director Public Prosecution.

In a statement, SHACU said preliminary investigations had revealed that the officials had conspired and embezzled over 200 million shillings (sh200m) meant for construction materials for various roads in Kotido Municipality in the 2024/2025 financial year.

The materials included 1,735.7 trips of gravel, 250 bags of cement, 25 trips of hardcore, and 10 trips of sand.

In addition, town clerk Okaja and senior civil engineer Okidi are accused of neglecting their official duties by failing to supervise, monitor, and ensure compliance with approved guidelines during the construction and maintenance of several roads.

The affected roads include Miresiae–Napawu Road, Morungor–Kotyanga Road, Nangayum–Kawlapei Road, Chairman’s Road, Business Road, and Romrom–Nakutakuwam Road.

In a statement, SHACU said preliminary investigations had revealed that the officials had conspired and embezzled over 200 million shillings (sh200m) meant for construction materials for various roads in Kotido Municipality in the 2024/2025 financial year.

Following a presidential directive, the government in May 2023 allocated each district and municipality sh1b for maintenance of roads outside the former Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) jurisdiction.

The allocation was welcomed by Members of Parliament who said they had often shouldered the burden of road maintenance.

“The people of Kaberamaido will always remember this Parliament for this money; we have been getting so little for the 300km in the district,” Kaberamaido County MP Alfred Edakasi said at the time.

The Deputy Speaker, Thomas Tayebwa, clarified that the funds are not meant for rehabilitation of the tarmac roads but for maintaining the non-tarmacked ones which are the majority in rural areas.

“Our biggest problem is maintenance of our small roads; that is what we are appropriating for. Like in my constituency, I don’t have anything to rehabilitate, we only have our small roads that we need to maintain,” he said then.

Tayebwa directed that the funds be disbursed to local governments through the former Uganda Road Fund, the legal entity mandated with supervision and monitoring of roads under local governments.