The State House Anti-Corruption Unit (SH-ACU), working in tandem with the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Uganda Police and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP), has arraigned Sitakange Charles, the Assistant District Engineer (Civil Works) for Mpigi District, before the Mpigi Chief Magistrate’s Court on charges of theft and abuse of office.
Sitakange, who was arrested over the weekend, is accused of stealing 21,739 liters of fuel valued at UGX 242,022,500.
The fuel was part of a UGX 1 billion Road Maintenance Grant disbursed to Mpigi Town Council during the Financial Year 2023–2024.
The stolen fuel was earmarked specifically for critical road works intended to improve transport infrastructure in the district.
Appearing in court on Monday, Sitakange was read the charges before a packed courtroom.
He was remanded to prison until July 22, 2025, as investigations continue and his accomplice, Kyambadde Sam, the Acting District Engineer, remains at large.
According to investigators, the accused engineered a fraudulent scheme involving inflated requisitions and falsified fuel usage reports.
Working in collusion with certain fuel station managers, Sitakange and his counterpart Kyambadde bypassed control measures, enabling them to draw significantly more fuel than was actually needed for the road projects.
The engineers are reported to have covered up the theft by using registration numbers of grounded and non-operational vehicles.
A particularly glaring instance involved the use of Tipper Truck Reg. No. LG 0002-082, which has been out of service since 2022, to withdraw fuel worth UGX 18.5 million.
Additionally, the accused allegedly used registration numbers of vehicles from other departments, and even vehicles not owned by the district, to create fictitious accountability for the stolen fuel.
This elaborate cover-up is believed to have resulted in a further UGX 90 million loss to government coffers.
In a more damning revelation, the investigations also found that a key road project, the Kyansoozi–Kampiringisa–Muyiira Road, which was allocated UGX 97 million, was never implemented at all, despite district officials reporting that works had been completed.
According to documents presented to the court, there is no physical evidence of any activity on the road and no justification for the funds’ disbursement.
The arrest and arraignment of Sitakange Charles follow closely on the heels of similar charges filed last month against officials in Busia Municipal Council, who were implicated in nearly identical fuel mismanagement schemes under the same UGX 1 billion Road Maintenance Grant.
The emerging pattern of fuel-related corruption has raised concerns among oversight bodies about systemic abuse of the maintenance grant across multiple local governments.
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