Utoda official flees over fake oil

The police in Bugiri are hunting for an official of the Uganda Taxi Owners and Drivers Association (Utoda) over alleged involvement in the manufacture and sale of fake cooking oil.

The officer in-charge of Criminal Investigations Department Bugiri, Mr David Opio Otim, told the Sunday Monitor that the official fled when a team from the police and Uganda National Bureau of Standards arrived at his residence in Busanzi parish in Bugiri Town.

He said a joint operation resulted into the discovery of 70 jerrycans of fake cooking oil at the official’s residence. Other raw materials suspected to have been stolen from the Bidco plant in Jinja and Mukwano Industries in Kampala, were also discovered.

Mr Otim said the operation followed several complaints by hotel owners about the quality of the cooking oil that they were finding on the market. He added that more operations would be carried out to ensure that the markets are rid of substandard goods. The chairperson of Busanze Village, Mr Sande Mukova, said some drivers connive with youths to siphon the oil, most of which is imported as raw materials, and is smuggled from Kenya to Uganda through Bugiri.

The Public Relations Officer of Uganda National Bureau of Statistics, Ms Sylvia Kirabo, said the oil that was impounded would be tested in the government’s laboratory to establish the nature of its contents.