By The Acting District Engineer of Mpigi, Kyambadde Sam, has been remanded to prison after being arraigned before the Mpigi Chief Magistrate’s Court on charges of fuel theft amounting to over UGX 242 million, meant for road works under the UGX 1 billion Road Maintenance Grant for the Financial Year 2023/2024.
Kyambadde, who appeared in court alongside his co-accused Sitakange Charles, was charged following a joint investigation by the State House Anti-Corruption Unit (SH-ACU), the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID), and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP).
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The duo is accused of stealing 21,739 litres of fuel allocated for road projects in Mpigi Town Council by manipulating fuel requisitions and colluding with fuel station managers to siphon off the excess fuel. The scam involved inflating the quantities of fuel needed for specific road works and later withdrawing the surplus using compromised fuel station systems.
According to prosecution, the suspects accounted for the stolen fuel using registration numbers of non-functional or unrelated vehicles, including Tipper Reg No. LG 0002-082, which had been grounded since 2022 but was allegedly used to draw fuel worth UGX 18.5 million. Additionally, vehicles from other departments and even non-district-owned vehicles were cited in the fraudulent accounting, resulting in losses estimated at UGX 90 million.
In one particularly egregious case, the engineers reported that works on the Kyansoozi–Kampiringisa–Muyiira Road, budgeted at UGX 97 million, had been completed—yet investigations revealed that no work had been done and the funds were instead misappropriated.
The arrest and prosecution of Kyambadde and Sitakange come in the wake of similar fuel theft cases in other districts. Notably, Busia Municipal Council officials were recently charged over similar abuses of the 1 Billion Grant, sparking a nationwide crackdown.
The SH-ACU has confirmed that investigations into fuel misuse under the Road Maintenance Grant are ongoing in several other local governments, following a surge in complaints from whistleblowers and community monitors.
Kyambadde and Sitakange have been remanded until August 5, 2025, as investigations continue. The case underscores the growing scrutiny over how local governments utilize the highly scrutinized UGX 1 billion maintenance allocation intended to improve road infrastructure across the country.
