Missing wagons, billions at stake: MPs demand probe into URC

What the report says

Uganda’s Parliament has called for an Inspectorate of Government probe into Uganda Railways Corporation and several former and current officials over alleged mismanagement, missing railway assets and possible financial losses tied to a Spanish-funded rehabilitation programme. The Observer reports that the committee’s concerns center on URC’s 2018 takeover of railway operations from Rift Valley Railways, when no formal handover or full stock-take was carried out, leaving uncertainty over the status of wagons and other inherited assets.

According to the report, MPs say 394 wagons were unaccounted for at one stage, with 112 still considered missing after some were later traced in Kenya and reclassified in a tracking system. The committee also questioned the sale of wagons as scrap in Uganda and Tanzania, saying the figures in handover reports did not clearly match the number sold. It estimated the missing wagons could be worth about $11.2 million.

The article further says lawmakers are examining a €25.9 million Spanish loan used to rehabilitate the metre-gauge railway and fund capacity-building. MPs raised concerns about consultant deployment, workshop records, software purchases, travel costs and the handling of four project vehicles, which were later sold to individuals linked to the programme. The committee also flagged the concrete sleeper factory and recommended a value-for-money audit on site levelling costs. In general background, such parliamentary reviews can lead to administrative, audit or criminal inquiries, but any outcome will depend on the IGG and Auditor General’s findings.