MP impounds district vehicle

Impounded. Residents mob around the impounded vehicle at Kakoro police station. PHOTO BY MUDANGHA KOLYANGHA

What you need to know:

  • Abused. The MP claims the vehicle was being abused to do private work that had already been contracted out.

Butebo County MP Fred Mudukoi Oduchu on Friday worked with residents to impound a district vehicle they claimed was being used to do private work.
The vehicle, registration number UG 2597W, had been spotted for several days ferrying sand and aggregate stone from Mbale District for the construction of Butebo District administration block.
However, according to Mr Mudukoi and other residents Sunday Monitor spoke to, the construction works had been contracted to a private firm at Shs525m.
Procurement guidelines, he said, dictate that the contractor should have equipment of his own and not use district vehicles.
“The district vehicles shouldn’t be misused to that level by doing private business because the contractor should have the capacity to own vehicles to do his works than conniving with a few staff to misuse the vehicle. The concern of the people of Butebo is to continue witnessing the grave misuse of district’s property yet their roads remain in a sorry state,” Mr Mudukoi said.
He said residents had monitored the vehicle for a while until they decided to act against what he called utter misuse.
Mr Mwamadi Otimong, the truck’s driver and the district technical staff gave contradicting explanations of what happened, with the driver saying the building materials were being ferried to build the district administration block while the technical staff said the sand was being taken to repair the Kapeyei Bridge that links Butebo and Pallisa districts.
However, no sand or other building material was found to have been delivered to the said bridge.
Mr Henry Manana, the officer in charge of criminal investigations in Butebo District, held a brief meeting with the MP at Kakoro police station, where the truck was taken, with angry residents demanding for an explanation from Ms Joanita Nakityo, the Butebo District Chief Administrative Officer.
Ms Nakityo, however, accused Mr Mudoki of acting outside the law, saying: “The truth of the matter is that I had released some funds to work on a road section, and the engineering department had dispatched the vehicle to collect sand but unfortunately the MP politicised the issue and impounded the vehicle.”
The driver was briefly detained and later released on police bond.