Rakai district officials arrested over misuse of Shs 490mln

RAKAI – State House Anti-Corruption Unit [ SHACU ] officials have arrested Rakai district officials for allegedly embezzling public funds and abuse of office.

Those arrested are the district works engineer, Julius Ssentamu, and the district chief administrative officer, William Kamara. They are alleged to have misused over Shs 490 million meant for the construction of roads, a public toilet, and valley dams in the district.

Charles Mugerwa, one of SHACU detectives, said they were deployed in Rakai district on the orders of the Minister for the Presidency, Milly Babalanda after Rakai resident commissioner [RDC] Sarah Kiyimba and the sub-county chairpersons in early November petitioned her over misuse of public funds by the officials.

The suspects are accused of embezzling public funds as well as allowing substandard works done by contractors, making the district incur a financial loss.

Mugerwa said Ssentamu and Kamara failed to show genuine accountability for the construction of roads, public toilets, and valley dams.

Investigations show that between 2018/2019 and 2021/2022 financial years, the district received over Shs 490mln where Shs 40mln was allocated for the construction of two valley dams at Lwamunonko and Kaju in Kacheera Sub-county.

Another Shs 37mln was allocated for maintenance of the Byezitiire-Nakasenyi to Lwenanga community road in Lwamaggwa Sub-county, Shs 381mln for extension of piped water in Kacheera Sub-county and Shs 20mln for the construction of a public toilet in Byakabanda Sub-county, but not all these projects were completed.

Mugerwa said the district engineer Ssentamu connived with the district water officer and forged a certificate of completion for the two valley dams at Lwamunonko and Kaju yet they were not finished.

”During our investigations, we visited the construction sites and roads and we found no work done,” he said, adding that officers forged accountability reports for the funds.

However, Ssentamu defended himself and said the district received money for roads in the fourth quarter of the 2021/2022 financial year and that they are still working on all the roads that need maintenance including Byezitiire-Nakasenyi to Lwenanga community road in Lwamaggwa Sub-county, which received an allocation of Shs 37mln for maintenance.

RDC Kiyimba said she invited the Minister for the Presidency Babalanda to deploy SHACU in the district purposely to fight corruption in departments and improve service delivery.

”I want value for money on government projects and I will not tolerate corrupt technical officers when I am still the RDC here in Rakai,” she said.

She said some technical officers in the departments of works, health, and education have fled their offices for fear of being arrested over their wrong deeds.

The RDC explained SHACU detectives arrested Ssentamu from one of the guest houses in Kyotera town council where he was hiding and detained at Rakai central police station while Kamara was arrested from his office and granted a police bond.

She said the culprits have been charged with abuse of office and misuse of public funds.

Kiyimba said investigations are still going on in all departments, adding that officials must put government funds to proper use so that people in Rakai district can receive better services.

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