Authorities in western Uganda have arrested several senior officials from Mitooma District over allegations of selling government jobs and extorting money from applicants during ongoing local government recruitment exercises.
The arrests were carried out on Thursday afternoon by the State House Anti-Corruption Unit in collaboration with the Uganda Police Force.
Those arrested include the Chief Administrative Officer, Nakityo Joanita; District Health Officer, Mugisha Sadic; Chairperson of the District Service Commission, Tugume Sam Karakuza; and Senior Education Officer, Nabimanya Richard. Authorities say other suspects are still on the run.
Preliminary investigations indicate that Nakityo allegedly interfered with the work of the District Service Commission by taking over key responsibilities such as scheduling interviews and selecting technical advisors for the commission.
She is also accused of influencing the scoring of candidates through the commission chairperson.
Investigators further allege that Tugume extorted between Shs 7 million and Shs 25 million from at least 23 job applicants, promising to secure them positions in the ongoing recruitment process.
Meanwhile, Mugisha is accused of engaging in influence peddling to ensure certain candidates were shortlisted and awarded unusually high scores during interviews. Authorities also claim he leaked interview questions and answers to selected applicants to give them an unfair advantage.
Nabimanya, the Senior Education Officer, is alleged to have contacted the chairperson of the District Service Commission to influence favorable assessments for some education officers during the recruitment interviews.
Authorities have also named Owarimpa Esther, a parish chief and LC3 councillor from Kashenshero Sub-county, as a suspect who allegedly extorted money from job applicants while falsely promising them employment. She is currently on the run.
The suspects remain in custody as investigations continue, with officials indicating that corruption-related charges are likely to be filed in the coming days.
Authorities have urged members of the public to report cases of bribery and extortion during recruitment processes to the relevant agencies.
