The China state construction engineering corporation which is constructing Kapchorwa – Suam road via Bukwo have accused Ugandan soldiers deployed to guard the workers of stealing fuel meant for road works.
This was revealed on Friday by Deo Wei, the company’s Chief Engineer during an emergency meeting with the resident district commissioner Bukwo and other technical officers.
Engineer Wei presented CCTV footage as his evidence showing men in army uniform stealing up to 3,000 liters of fuel on Thursday night at the company’s offices in Kamkamba in Bukwo town council of Bukwo district.
“This is the challenge delaying our work; by now we would have been done with the work,” the engineer said.
According to Wei, one of the soldiers among those captured by CCTV camera took off abandoning his gun at the camp and went into hiding after the workers caught them siphoning fuel from the drums in the camps.
The president’s representative, RDC Samuel Hashaka Mpimbaza confirmed that the thief’s gun was abandoned at the camp and was picked by the camp commander.
“This is very bad and we condemn theft of fuel which is meant to complete the work on the road,” he said.
RDC Hashaka ordered the police to commence investigations and have the culprits arrested and face charges of theft.
Major Isaac Oware, the UPDF 3rd division spokesperson described the incident as unfortunate and urged the Chinese contractor to share the video footage showing their soldiers stealing for proper action.
“As UPDF, we don’t condoned indiscipline by our personnel, we shall launch investigations and the culprits will face the law,” he said.
–URN
