Exclusive: Uganda Industrial Research Institute (UIRI) staff arrested for corruption

On Friday the 17th of November, 2023, three UIRI staff members were arrested and detained by the State House Anti-corruption Unit, for corruption, of which apparently UIRI Executive Director Prof. Charles Kwesiga is the chief culprit.

The three arrested are Steven Isanga – a civil works Engineer, Bridget Kyoheire and Percy Twinamasiko a transport officer.

They were later interrogated over the Institute’s plumbing equipment worth UGX 36.3 million, which was fraudulently taken to the Executive Director’s farm at Ntungamo.

It is alleged that the embattled Professor has for long run the Institute like a personal business. He is accused of, among other evils, deploying government funds to serve a luxurious extravagant lifestyle.

Prior to the purchase of the missing plumbing equipment, UGX 12.6 million shillings had been spent from UIRI’s coffers on buying iron sheets and other building materials which sadly the Professor diverted to the construction of a cattle shed on his said farm.

The Professor’s recent woes emanate from a complaint by one Henry Nkenja – the proprietor of Global Bakery in Kabale Town, who took a bank loan of Ug Shs 200 million to put up bakery structures in anticipation of bakery equipment from UIRI, for which he had already signed a Memorandum of Understanding.

A few days after the equipment was installed, the abrasive Professor came and had it uninstalled; he drove the equipment worth 1.6 billion straight to his personal land in Kabale, where it was installed and is currently run by his relatives.

And that’s exactly how the Professor has handled the resource envelope of UIRI’s Business Incubation Programme – which supports both in-house and virtual incubattees under which the bakery equipment was procured, as well as the State House Innovation Fund Project. The Professor handles the funds as personal coffers, using UIRI’s Production System currently headed by Mrs Joanita Arishaba as a conduit. That’s how a bakery line meant for Kimaka Barracks in Jinja was diverted to Ntare School as the Professor’s personal donation to the School as the Board Chair.

Yet many think this is just the tip of the iceberg, we are told that the mess at the Institute and the wanton abuse of funds and public resources by the 75-year-old Professor is unprecedented in the history of Uganda’s public service.

It is reported that the institute is marred by gross mismanagement, flawed systems, nepotism and self-serving procurement systems. Irregular procurements have been done contrary to PPDA rules and regulations, to the benefit of Charles Kwesiga.

It comes as a shock that UIRI under the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation has no Board of Governors to oversee the Institute’s activities and projects. It is hoped that the ongoing investigations will reveal why an Institute of that calibre doesn’t have an active Board to do oversight.

Professor Kwesiga’s style of management could be an eye-opener to a beleaguered public service which has been hijacked by a few self-serving egoistic executives. Watch this space.