Three Soroti district officers found themselves in handcuffs Tuesday evening, detained by the State House Anti-Corruption Unit for suspected abuse of office.
Acting district engineer Alex Oryekot, assistant district engineer Simon Okello, and procurement officer Haggai Ewena were taken into custody at Soroti Police Station following their arrest.
The directive to apprehend the trio came from the deputy director of the anti-corruption unit at the Internal Security Organization (ISO), Fatuma Namukwaya, representing economic monitoring state minister Beatrice Akello.
The officers stand accused of abuse of office relating to a road project in Tubur town council, Soroti, where contract documents reveal discrepancies. Initially budgeted for a low-cost sealing road spanning 0.9km at a cost of sh419 million, the actual construction was reduced to 0.4km.
Concerns over the apparent mismanagement of taxpayers’ funds were raised by Bob Owiny, Tubur district councilor, who estimated potential losses of over shs180 million.
The project, which commenced in February, shifted from its original single surface road design to a premix design along the way, a decision allegedly made unilaterally by the engineers.
After failing to provide satisfactory explanations, the officers were further interrogated by State House detectives and subsequently handed over to Soroti Police.
Simon Peter Edoru, Soroti district (LC5) chairperson, commended the monitoring team’s intervention, emphasizing the importance of addressing discrepancies in project execution promptly.
Meanwhile, in Kaberamaido district, two officers—commercial officer David Eyagu and acting district education officer Richard Eliebu—were also apprehended on charges of corruption and abuse of office by the same monitoring team.
Today, the team is set to inspect key government projects in Soroti city, including the Soroti fruit factory, as part of their ongoing efforts to curb corruption and ensure transparency in public projects.
