Six public officials in Sembabule District have been interdicted over allegations of financial impropriety, abuse of office, neglect of duty and corruption. The officials are Allan Kiyemba, the District Physical Planner; Geoffrey Mugabe, the District Natural Resources Officer; Twaha Musoke, the Community Development Officer; Emmanuel Kananura, the Senior Land Management Officer; Michael Kakuru, the Secretary to the District Land Board; and Henry Bukenya, the District Forestry Officer.
They are accused of soliciting bribes, abusing their offices and conspiring to defraud both government and residents, allegations authorities say have undermined service delivery in the district. The interdictions follow a directive by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Local Government, Ben Kumumanya, after a public baraza convened by the Minister for Local Government, Balam Barugahara, on Thursday to assess service delivery in Sembabule District.
In a letter to the Sembabule Chief Administrative Officer, Kumumanya directed that the six officials be immediately interdicted to pave the way for investigations by the State House Anti-Corruption Unit and other relevant government agencies. He said the decision followed complaints raised during the public meeting, where district leaders and residents accused the officials of corruption, abuse of office and misconduct.
According to Barugahara, the officials are accused of soliciting bribes, unlawfully collecting statutory fees from residents and diverting public funds for personal gain. The minister said preliminary findings indicate that Senior Land Management Officer Emmanuel Kananura and District Land Board Secretary Michael Kakuru allegedly extorted more than Shs3 billion from residents while claiming to facilitate the processing of land titles.
He noted that the payments were allegedly collected despite the government fully funding the processing of 1,500 land titles under the Land Tenure Regularisation Programme. Since September 2025, the Ministry of Lands has been issuing free land titles to selected residents in Sembabule District to help resolve longstanding land disputes that had left many facing the threat of eviction.
Barugahara also linked Geoffrey Mugabe, the District Natural Resources Officer, and Henry Bukenya, the District Forestry Officer, to an alleged racket involved in the illegal charcoal and timber trade in government gazetted forest reserves. Meanwhile, Allan Kiyemba, the District Physical Planner, and Twaha Musoke, the Community Development Officer, are accused of embezzling physical planning approval fees and soliciting bribes from beneficiaries of government wealth creation programmes.
Barugahara said the government had obtained what he described as sufficient evidence to warrant the interdiction and prosecution of the implicated officials, including alleged confessions and forged receipts reportedly issued to victims. “Accordingly, it has been decided that the above-mentioned officials be interdicted to pave the way for investigations by the State House Anti-Corruption Unit and other relevant government agencies,” Kumumanya states in the interdiction letter.
The directive comes as Kananura and Kakuru are already on police bond after being arrested on the orders of the Minister for Local Government over the same allegations. However, Michael Kakuru has dismissed the accusations, attributing the case to what he described as malice and a deliberate campaign by certain individuals seeking to undermine district staff and influence the administration. He said they are not concerned by the investigations and remain confident that they will be cleared of any wrongdoing-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
