Lukwago accuses KCCA officials of selling stolen weighbridges in Rwanda

KAMPALA - Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago on Tuesday set tongues wagging after claiming that a weighbridge at the Kiteezi dumping site was stolen by unscrupulous KCCA officials and smuggled to Rwanda.

At the time, Lukwago was appearing before Parliament’s Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE), alongside Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) officials, including executive director Hajjat Sharifah Buzeki.

The session, chaired by Busiro East MP Medard Lubega Ssegona (NUP), was probing issues raised in Auditor General Edward Akol’s 2023/24 report on the Authority.

AG’s report

At the time, MPs were probing an Auditor General’s observation that KCCA lacked essential equipment and machinery such as bulldozers, excavators, compactors, garbage trucks, litter bins and a leachate treatment plant for effective solid waste management in Kampala.

As a result, the Authority spent Sh1.54 billion on hiring equipment. The AG further noted that although KCCA had planned to purchase 50 garbage skips to improve sanitation and maintain city cleanliness, this was never implemented.

KCCA executive director Hajjat Sharifah Buzeki.

However, due to inadequate government funding for equipment purchases, KCCA says it has been forced to rely on hiring, an option they admitted is costly.

“At the site where we manage our waste, we require a number of machinery. For instance, we require a chain bulldozer with low ground pressure, a hydrochloric chain, excavator. We require a land compactor, a water bowser because of the dust which comes out, and then a chain bulldozer. For hiring these machines, we would require sh3.7 billion per annum. If we are to purchase, we would require sh4.5 billion,” Buzeki elaborated.

Purchase vs hiring costs

Chipping in, Lukwago said that this assessment was contained in a previous letter, which was transmitted to Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja.

The missive, he said, included the problems associated with hiring, such as how Nippon Construction had profited significantly from the equipment hire arrangement.

However, on the other hand, Lukwago said that the justification for hiring is that maintenance is expensive and even the protection of their equipment is problematic, before spilling the beans.

“I have the Auditor General’s report of 2011/12, which was processed by our internal Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and presented in the latest report of January 2025. He indicated that our weighbridge at Kiteezi was stolen by KCCA officials and taken to Rwanda,” he disclosed.

“We have had the occasion to discuss it internally with the ED and the entire team. We even had a retreat on this audit report; we went to Entebbe, and we said, Can we take action to fight against this kind of thuggery. The officials took the weigh bridge. They took it to Rwanda and sold it. They are known,” Lukwago insinuated.

Before questioning the audacity of the unnamed KCCA officials, he added, “They were two. They were installed at Kiteezi. It was at that time when there was that transition from Otada to KCCA, now managing it directly.”

Frank Rusa, the director of legal affairs at KCCA.

Legal director speaks out

Frank Rusa, the director of legal affairs at KCCA, acknowledged the allegations, saying they emerged during a strategic retreat last year and pledged to follow them up.

“The lord mayor raised this issue that thirteen years ago, weigh bridges were stolen from Kiteezi, and that was an allegation that some of our staff then sold them and that CID was had been asked to do that investigation,” Rusa alluded.

“So, when he informed us of that, I committed to ask our current CID team to dig it up and give a report to management. This happened a few months ago. It was when we had the retreat. So, this investigation is ongoing, but we will follow up and find out how far it has gone. But for now, I have no latest update on that,” he added.

Fast forward, the COSASE chairperson asked him to provide the reference and instructions he had given to KCCA’s in-house CID team.