UNRA Top Brass Grilled as Probe into Mpigi Expressway Cost Overruns Widens

LCC TV NEWS

KAMPALA, July 27, 2026 – The investigation into the financially embattled Busega-Mpigi Expressway project intensified this week as senior officials from the now-defunct Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) were questioned by state investigators. The probe, which threatens to expose one of the country’s largest infrastructure scandals, is focusing on critical decisions made during the project's inception that led to its cost ballooning from an initial Shs547.5 billion to more than Shs2 trillion .

According to sources familiar with the proceedings, the officials were grilled by the Inspectorate of Government (IG) over the management and procurement processes of the 23.7km expressway. The source confirmed that statements have since been recorded from the officials regarding the matter. Furthermore, the investigation has broadened to include several former UNRA technical officers, including engineers involved in the design and procurement stages, who have also provided statements to the investigators .

The Root of the Escalation

The widening of the probe to cover UNRA's tenure is logical; the agency designed the road, ran the procurement, and supervised the consultant before it was dissolved during the government rationalisation programme . Its records and unfinished projects were passed to the Ministry of Works and Transport.

The core of the investigation revolves around the controversial decision to award the contract in 2019 before detailed engineering designs were completed. A 2024 Auditor General’s report identified this as the genesis of the cost overrun, which triggered four rounds of design revisions, route changes, and massive compensation claims, causing a five-year delay .

A key piece of evidence under scrutiny is a "no objection" letter written by former UNRA Executive Director Allen Kagina. In April 2021, she approved a final design review that had already revised the cost to approximately Shs680 billion. Investigators are now seeking to establish how the cost surged beyond that figure to over Shs1.3 trillion, with a further Shs700 billion recently disclosed to complete the project .

The "Swamp" Allegation

The investigation was prompted by a directive from President Yoweri Museveni, who in a letter dated June 26, accused corrupt officials of deliberately altering the road alignment. The President alleged that the engineers abandoned a compensated dry-land route for a wetland corridor, where they or their associates held private land titles, to fraudulently claim compensation .

“These thieves must be destroyed,” President Museveni wrote, ordering the suspension of senior engineers Patrick Muleme, Raymond Kiyaga, and Dickens Ahimbisibwe, as well as the forced leave of Permanent Secretary Bageya Waiswa .

Parliament’s Committee on Physical Infrastructure is also investigating the matter. Committee Chairperson Mwine Mpaka Rwamirama questioned how a road that was supposed to cost about Shs600 billion could now require a multi-trillion-shilling bailout .

Wider Impact

The scandal has already had repercussions. The Works Minister, Fred Byamukama, disclosed to Parliament that six further officials have been retired in the public interest .

Meanwhile, the expressway, which was due for completion in 2023, is now projected to open by December 2028. Financial documents show the project is at 47% physical completion but has seen about 85% of the original contract sum already paid out, raising further questions about financial control .