Masaka, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Emmanuel Gakyaro, the Masaka deputy city clerk, and Martin Kigozi, the city senior physical planner are on the spot over their alleged involvement in the creation of plots in road reserves.
The Masaka city Roads Committee has unanimously resolved to formally petition the Inspector General of Government-IGG to investigate the two officials for alleged abuse of office and corruption.
The committee which is chaired by the Kimanya-Kabonera Division MP Abed Bwanika on Friday inspected community access roads within the city, where they however established that many road reserves had been demarcated into private plots.
Some of the affected roads include; Muteesa II, Grant Street, Kiwalyanga road, Nalubaale, and Kooki lanes which have been encroached on by private individuals, some of whom are already undertaking the construction of buildings within gazetted road reserves.
Trouble started when the two technical officers failed to explain circumstances under which the private developers secured and approved structural plans for buildings in the road reserves. This infuriated the committee members before ordering that the two officers be investigated for the negligence of duty and abuse of office.
Steven Asiimwe, the Masaka City Resident Commissioner proposed that the two officers step aside from their offices to allow investigations to be conducted. He argues that it is so unlikely that the road reserves were sliced into plots without the knowledge of the city clerk and physical planner.
Mathias Mpuuga, the Leader of Opposition in Parliament, also MP for Nyendo-Mukungwe division argues that the encroachment on road reserves is a pointer to underlying gross abuse of office by the selfish city technical team, practices he says cannot be left unchecked.
Mpuuga said that they have established that the city council has lost plenty of its properties through collusion between the technical officers and property brokers. He said that thorough investigations are done and culprits are held accountable.
However in his response, the Masaka City Senior Physical Planner Martin Kigozi denied participating in the irregularities, arguing that the queried structural plans were approved by his predecessor who retired seven years ago.
Kigozi says he is ready to aid the investigations to unearth all the irregularities in the city properties management and have them rectified.
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