Kira municipality engineer arrested over shoddy work

Police and the State House Anti-Corruption Unit (SHACU) officials have arrested Kira Municipality engineer, James Joloba over shoddy road works. 

The other person arrested is the division engineer, Shamie Katongole. 

“The State House Anti-Corruption Unit in liaison with Uganda Police have arrested Kira Municipality engineer James Joloba and Division engineer, Shamie Katongole over sub-standard work on two roads (Kira-Kiwologoma and Pine-Shimon) worth sh1.82b in Kira, Wakiso district,” officials from the State House Anti-Corruption Unit said in a statement. 

“The two suspects are also accused of misusing sh58m (all spent on roof repairs) and neglecting renovation of two classroom blocks at Kira Secondary School. They will possibly face charges of causing financial loss, fraudulent false accounting and neglect of duty,” Anti-Corruption officials added in their statement. 

Joloba and Katongole were arrested on Tuesday during the monitoring field tours of Government projects in Wakiso district by the State Minister for Economic Monitoring, Peter Ogwang and the head of the State House Anti-Corruption Unit, Brig. Gen. Henry Isoke. 

Kira Municipality engineer, James Joloba arrested over shoddy road works.

Earlier Ogwang advised Wakiso district leaders and politicians to handle Parish Development Model funds cautiously. 

Ogwang described the Parish Development Model (PDM), as a “game changer” in the battle against poverty if corruption is curbed. 

“Today [Tuesday] I am in Kira Municipality, Wakiso District monitoring government projects. I have urged the political leaders and civil servants to manage the Parish Development Model funds cautiously and desist from acts of corruption. PDM can be a game changer in the fight against poverty,” he said. 

In February, President Yoweri Museveni launched PDM at Kibuku Primary School in Bukedi sub-region, noting that the programme aims at helping people at the parish level to boost their household income. 

“During the recently concluded elections, we promised you that the 2021-2026 term is going to be a Kisanja (term) for creating wealth, jobs and incomes for all Ugandans,” Museveni said, pledging to use PDM as a strategy to reach homesteads that are still in subsistence economy to support them join the money economy. 

Through PDM, Museveni added, the Government will take services to the people in a more effective way and receive actionable feedback from them on wealth creation and Government-provided services to quicken socio-economic transformation. 

There are 10,594 parishes in the country. 

Each parish will be getting sh17m at the beginning of the implementation of the model, but in the next budget about sh200m is expected to be disbursed in every parish annually.