President Yoweri Museveni has ordered three senior engineers off the job and told the top civil servant at the works ministry to step aside, in a June 26 letter that demands an investigation into how the Busega-Mpigi Expressway nearly doubled in cost.
The project was meant to be fully financed by a Shs600 billion loan from the African Development Bank. Museveni said only about 40% of the work is done, yet the whole sum has already been paid out. The bill now stands at Shs1.3 trillion.
The three engineers, Edwin Raymond Kiyaga, along with Dickens Ahimbisibwe and Patrick Muleme, are accused of shifting the road’s original alignment so it passed through land where they had personal interests. The change triggered a fresh round of compensation on a route that had already been surveyed and paid for.
Museveni put the question directly in a letter to Justice Aisha Naluzze Batoro, the Inspector General of Government. “The government borrowed Shs600 billion from ADB to do the Expressway 100%. As of now only 40% of the work has been done but all the money was paid. What happened?” he wrote.
He directed the Inspectorate to lead the probe, with State House Auditor General John Tumwiine involved, and named Barbara Namugambe as acting permanent secretary while Waiswa Bageya stands aside.
The suspension is a sharp turn. In May, Deputy Inspector General Anna Twinomugisha Muhairwe toured the site and said her office was “almost convinced” by the ministry’s explanations, though she flagged illegal building inside the expressway corridor and possible tampering with compensation.
Assistant Commissioner for Roads Godfrey Bihemaiso has said the cost rose after the bank approved a further €217 million in December 2025, roughly Shs909 billion, to finish the job. The project is a 23.7-kilometre, four-lane highway with more than 20 kilometres of access roads and four interchanges.
Sources
- Museveni Suspends Three Works Engineers, Sends PS Bageya on Leave Over Mpigi Expressway Corruption | Nilepost
- Museveni Suspends Works PS, Officials as Busega-Mpigi Expressway Project Cost Hits Shs 1.3tn | ChimpReports
