Road equipment worth billions go missing from yard
Ongoing works on Tirinyi Road. Road projects in the eastern areas could stall after a row between bidders. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
Mr Lorika told Daily Monitor at the weekend that he received a letter from the city assistant mechanical engineer, on August 23, informing him of the missing equipment from the city yard
Authorities in Jinja City have launched an inquest into the disappearance of road equipment estimated to cost billions of shillings, which is said to have gone missing from the city yard.
The equipment, Mr Moses Lorika, the Jinja City clerk said, includes two graders and a tractor.
Mr Lorika told Daily Monitor at the weekend that he received a letter from the city assistant mechanical engineer, on August 23, informing him of the missing equipment from the city yard.
Mr Lorika added that he is following up on leads that the equipment was taken by some staff of the Law Enforcement Office.
“The guards said some equipment was picked from the yard by officials from the enforcement office, who have been identified as prime suspects. We have sent that information to the police so that the accused persons are apprehended and the equipment is recovered,” he said.
Subsequently, security at the city premises has been beefed up to ensure council property are safe.
The Jinja Resident City Commissioner (RCC), Mr Darius Nandinda, said the disappearance of the equipment has caused the city activities to grind to a halt.
“For road unit equipment to go missing for an hour makes the activities, including roadworks, to delay, so we appeal to whoever has seen them (equipment) to inform us,’’ he said.
Mr Nandinda added that with the help of the police, they have commenced operations aimed at arresting and prosecuting whoever was behind disappearance of the equipment.
“The machines, worth billions of shillings, were taken by the city council staff, we are going to arrest them,’’ the RCC said.
Mr Twahir Ddamulira, a city Councillor, said the council should ensure security is tightened by installing closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras.
“They stole three vehicles as if they were stealing forks. The engineer should also be arrested. Council must expedite the installation of cameras. If CCTV cameras were in place, we would have used the footage to arrest the culprits,” he said.
Currently, most roads in Jinja City are under rehabilitation, through the Uganda Support to Municipal Infrastructure Development [USMID] project.
