UNRA staff under probe over hiring out equipment

Mpingi. The Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) is investigating some of its top officials for illegally hiring out road equipment to companies and prominent individuals to do private work in different districts across the country, Ms Allen Kagina, the executive director, has said.
“We had incidences of misuse of our road equipment whereby reports show that some people, especially the station managers, hire them out but we are undertaking investigations all over the country to get to the truth of the matter,” Ms Kagina said last Friday in Mpigi while flagging off 16 trucks to different districts.
“Since it is a disciplinary issue, we shall punish all the culprits because they get that money illegally,” she added.
However, the UNRA boss did not specify the number of officials under probe and neither did she mention their names.
“Use of UNRA equipment without official authorisation and yet public road network is wanting, is unacceptable. I don’t stop you from cooperating with the people, but this can happen after getting authorisation from the director. You can operate much more in state of a crisis such as floods, fire, landslides or any emergency,” Ms Kagina said.
Adding: “If you protect the machines and all our equipment well, know that your job is secure but if you do it the other way round, you will lose the jobs.”
Among the road equipment flagged off included six water trucks, four cargo crane trucks and six fuel trucks which will go to six UNRA regional mechanical workshops in Arua, Masaka, Masindi, Mbale, Kabale, Kasese, Jinja, Mpigi, Soroti, Kampala, Mbarara and Moyo.