President Yoweri Museveni has exposed what he described as rampant corruption in the Ministry of Works and Transport, revealing attempts by officials to inflate the cost of road construction projects, including those linked to the upcoming Afcon tournament.
In a letter addressed to the minister of works and transport, Fred Byamukama, Museveni said investigations had uncovered efforts by “thieves” within the ministry to increase the cost of Afcon roads from Shs 4 billion to Shs 8.5 billion per kilometre.
“I have been getting reports that there is massive corruption in the Ministry of Works. Proof of this corruption has been the delays on road construction, reconstruction, repair and maintenance,” Museveni wrote.
He cited several troubled infrastructure projects as evidence of systemic failures, including the Busega–Mpigi Expressway, the Mubende–Fort Portal road, the Masaka–Mutukula road and Jinja road. The president also pointed to malfunctioning scanners at Entebbe International Airport as another example of inefficiency and possible mismanagement.
Museveni warned that government would adopt tougher measures to address the vice, combining both criminal prosecution and administrative action against implicated officials.
“On account of this betrayal, I will use, henceforth, two weapons: the criminal and the administrative,” he said.
Appearing before Parliament, Byamukama acknowledged that corruption in the roads sector remains widespread, often involving collusion between contractors and ministry staff to secure contracts and execute substandard work.
He revealed that government loses up to Shs 50 billion every quarter due to corruption in road projects alone, and warned that enforcement actions would be intensified.
The minister also disclosed that the president had taken decisive action against officials implicated in project mismanagement, dismissing six engineers from the ministry.
“As I was leaving my office this morning, I saw a letter from the president sacking six engineers, including a few I am seeing on this front bench here. Sacking them, not even interdicting—they should go,” Byamukama told legislators.
The dismissed engineers are accused of involvement in irregularities and persistent delays affecting major infrastructure projects, including the Busega–Mpigi Expressway, Mubende–Fort Portal road and Masaka–Mutukula road.
The developments signal a renewed push by the government to tackle corruption in public infrastructure, a sector that has long been dogged by allegations of inflated costs, poor workmanship and delayed completion timelines.
Analysts say the success of the crackdown will depend on sustained enforcement and institutional reforms to address entrenched weaknesses in procurement and project supervision systems.
