12/7/2026
The professional body accused the ministers of turning the government’s fight against corruption into a public spectacle without first conducting technical investigations.
The Uganda Institution of Professional Engineers (UIPE) has challenged Local Government Minister Balaam Barugahara Ateenyi and his deputy, Justine Nameere, over the arrest and public humiliation of engineers during their accountability operations in eastern Uganda.
The professional body accused the ministers of turning the government’s fight against corruption into a public spectacle without first conducting technical investigations.
They also vowed to carry out their own investigations to vindicate the arrested engineers
Barugahara and Nameere have been touring local governments under the “Expose the Corrupt in Local Government” campaign.
The operation targets the suspected misuse of public funds, poor infrastructure and failures in the management of money allocated for roads.
Their approach, however, came under scrutiny after the arrest of Bulambuli District Engineer Paulo Walimbwa during an inspection on July 10, 2026.
The ministers visited the Tunyi-Kimuli-Bumasoba Road in Sisi Sub-county with Minister of State for Gender, Labour and Social Development Simon Mulongo, local MPs and district leaders.
They accused the district technical team of using red soil on the road instead of the first-class murram reportedly provided for in the Bill of Quantities.
The ministers also questioned whether the work completed matched the money released for the project.
Barugahara then directed police to arrest Walimbwa to assist with investigations into suspected misuse of public funds and poor workmanship.
Barugahara said district leaders must account for public money and warned that the government would not tolerate officials who approved substandard work.
Nameere said the arrest should warn technical officers across the country against approving poor projects or misusing government funds.
The inspection team also reported defects at the Muyembe-Bukhalu Bridge project.
The ministers said workers had used black soil instead of the required construction materials and built a structure smaller than the approved design.
They estimated that the alleged irregularities could have exposed the government to a loss of about Shs500 million. The Bulambuli Town Council engineer and town clerk reportedly left the area as the ministers pursued them for questioning.
However, UIPE said ministers should not determine the quality of road works or order arrests based on complaints raised during public meetings.
In a statement issued in Kampala on July 11, 2026, UIPE said it was alarmed by reports of arbitrary arrests and humiliation of engineers and other local government officers in Bulambuli and Mbale.
While UIPE fully supports the President’s renewed crackdown on corruption… we believe that the gains of this fight are lost when it is reduced to a charade – a mockery, a public spectacle, a theatrical grandstanding, and a show of might for the cameras by powerful, but perhaps excited and overzealous high-ranking government officials playing to the gallery,” the statement reads.
UIPE said engineers should face investigations where evidence points to misconduct. However, it argued that competent technical personnel must first examine the design, scope, materials, funding and quality specifications of each project.
