Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has asked the Police to follow up on investigations into the theft of a vehicle belonging to Gulu Regional Referral Hospital.
The directive was issued as hospital officials appeared before the PAC Central Committee to respond to queries arising from the Auditor General’s report for the 2024/2025 financial year.
The vehicle, registration number UBE-639F, was reportedly donated to Gulu Regional Referral Hospital by the defunct United States Agency for International Development (USAID). It was allegedly stolen within hospital premises in February 2026.
Gulu Regional Referral Hospital Principal Hospital Administrator, Walter Uryek-Wun, told the committee that the vehicle was a station wagon and that police investigations had led to the arrest of three suspects, including the driver under the USAID-UHA program, the broker in Moroto, and a Kenyan businessman who reportedly bought the vehicle in Kenya.
The vehicle worth over 150 million Shillings was reportedly sold at 45 million shillings.
Uryek-Wun revealed that there were 64 CCTV cameras in the facility, but only one was functioning on the night the vehicle was stolen.
“On that fateful night that the vehicle was being stolen, there was only one camera functioning,” Uryek-Wun told the committee.
He explained that the hospital later discovered that its CCTV system takes about three hours to reboot whenever power goes off, creating a significant gap in surveillance.
According to Uryek-Wun, the functioning camera captured the person who drove the vehicle away. Police investigations subsequently identified the suspect as a USAID driver.
Investigators reportedly followed the trail to Kenya, where a Kenyan businessman who allegedly bought the vehicle was arrested with the involvement of Interpol.
However, the vehicle itself had not been recovered by the time of the committee hearing.
Uryek-Wun said the vehicle’s tracking system had initially been disconnected but was later reconnected at a garage in Kenya. The information was reportedly shared with investigators who were pursuing the case.
“The car has not yet been recovered, but they are optimistic the car is back in Kenya,” he said.
The revelation prompted concern from the Kilak South MP Gilbert Olanya, who questioned why the vehicle had not been recovered despite the arrest of suspects.
Olanya alleged that there could be collusion in the handling of the case by some individuals in Gulu and called for greater scrutiny of the investigation.
“The matter is very serious because we realised that the police in Gulu are tampering with this report,” Olanya told the committee.
Masaba, who chaired the committee today in the absence of both the chairperson, Patrick Oshabe Nsamba and vice chairperson, Sarah Lwansasula, questioned how police could arrest and prosecute a suspect without recovering the alleged stolen vehicle.
“How could they get the arrest of the person, the thief, and he’s arraigned in court, imprisoned, and then they don’t recover the exhibit?” Karim asked.
Karim Masaba also questioned whether any hospital official had travelled to Kenya to verify the recovery efforts or whether management was relying entirely on information from the police.
Committee members, however, cautioned against directly interfering in a criminal matter that is already before court, citing the principle of sub judice.
The committee instead directed its CID officers to follow up on the case and establish how far investigations had progressed.
CID was given two weeks to provide the committee with an update on the status of the investigations and efforts to recover the vehicle.
The committee also said the matter could be followed up during the next audit cycle, when the Auditor General is expected to capture the status of the hospital asset.
The committee also raised concern over the hospital’s CCTV system and the claim that cameras take approximately three hours to resume operation after a power outage.
Masaba Karim described the situation as a serious security vulnerability, warning that prolonged periods without surveillance could expose hospital assets to theft and other forms of malpractice.
He directed the hospital management to address the problem and provide a status update during the next audit cycle. The committee further asked Parliament’s Health Committee to take interest in the CCTV issue during its oversight activities-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
