Three officials in Soroti district and five in Fort Portal City arrested for abuse of office

The Anti-Corruption Unit of Statehouse has in liaison with the Uganda Police Force arrested three district officials in Soroti on allegations of abuse of office and causing financial loss as a result of inflating the district payroll.

The suspects have been identified as Okello Micheal- Internal Auditor, Oonyu Charles – Human Resource Officer and Okanya Simon- Principal Human Resource Officer who has been reported before on several cases for extorting money from pensioners under the pretext that they have been overpaid by the government.

It is alleged that over Uganda Shillings 500 million has been paid to ghost workers and ghost pensioners.

In a related development,

Five officials of the Fort Portal City lands department have been arrested by the State House Anti-Corruption Unit for allegedly selling public land.

The officials are identified as Nansubuga Shamim senior staff surveyor, Simon Peter Kugonza from the lands office, David Mwesige Baguma former chairperson of lands committee West Division, Jessy Smart Bwango, the Kabarole Secretary Land Board, and Samuel Musana the Fort Portal City Physical Planner.

The officials allegedly fraudulently sold off council public land to businessmen in Fort Portal well knowing that it was preserved as a green belt, including 5 plots along the Milllane road in Kabundaire which was sold to businessman Abbasi Balinda, and Nyakimya land in Kabundaire which was sold to Steven Isabalija among others.

According to Wycliffe Mukama, a detective at Fort Portal Police Station, the investigation into more fraudulent land sales in the city is still ongoing.

The Fort Portal City Mayor Asaba Edson Ruyonga says that they have written to the Ministry of Lands instructing them to immediately cancel all the titles that were fraudulently acquired by individuals.