Three Soroti officials arrested over abuse of office

Minister of state for economic monitoring, has ordered the arrest of three Soroti District officials over abuse of office.

The officers including, Haggai Ewena, senior procurement officer, Alex Oriokot, acting district engineer and Simon Okello assistant engineering officer were arrested at Tubur Town Council Tuesday evening.

The arrests followed a visit to the district by officials from the Ministry of State for economic monitoring led by Ms Fatuma Namukwaya, and a team from the State House Anti-Corruption Unit.

The operation uncovered procurement irregularities, abuse of office, and negligence, all of which have affected service delivery in Soroti during the construction of a low-cost seal road in Tubur town council.

After interrogating the three officers, Mr Samuel Ssebikari, head of legal at the ministry, explained that the contract agreement was clear but the officials went ahead to bypass it.

“The discrepancies centre on differing project lengths specified in the contracts, with one mentioning 0.9 kilometres and the other 0.5 kilometres," he mentioned.

According to Mr Salim Komakech, Resident district commissioner, one phase of the low-cost sealing indicates that 0.9kms is being worked on and the one 0.5kms isn’t hence contradicting everything.

“That is the area which is going to be investigated including the procurement process that has led the team to these discrepancies," said Mr Komakech.

He added that what brings the contention is the length of the road that is being worked on, therefore the arrested officers will be questioned and provide answers.

Earlier in the day, Ms Fatuma Namukwaya cautioned district officials against laxity at work and not sabotaging government programs.

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