KAMPALA, July 4 — Four staff members of Uganda’s Ministry of Works and Transport have been suspended on the orders of President Yoweri Museveni, following allegations of corruption tied to the Busega-Mpigi Expressway project.
In a letter explaining his decision, Museveni detailed a troubling chain of events. The government borrowed from the African Development Bank to fund the expressway, which was supposed to be completed at 100 percent. As of now, only 40 percent of the work has been done, but all the money was paid.
“What happened?” the president wrote. He accused corrupt engineers of altering the route of the road. They avoided the path that had already been compensated for, he said, and charted a new route going through their own lands that needed fresh compensation.
The cost of the road has ballooned. Originally supposed to cost 600 billion shillings, the Busega-Mpigi Expressway is now being put at 1.3 trillion shillings. That is more than double the initial budget.
For families and commuters in the Kampala metropolitan area, the implications are stark. The expressway was meant to ease chronic congestion on a vital corridor linking the capital to the country’s international airport. Instead, the project is stalled, with more than half the work still incomplete and no clear timeline for finishing it.
The president’s order to suspend the four staff members signals a crackdown within the ministry. But the human side of this story is about trust. When public money meant for roads that serve millions is diverted through land deals that benefit a few, it is the ordinary Ugandan who pays the price—in wasted time, in higher costs, and in a project that may never deliver what was promised.
Behind this breakthrough in accountability is a simple question: where did the money go? The African Development Bank, which provided the loan, will be watching closely. So will the people who were promised a 100 percent completed expressway and have so far seen less than half of it built.
