Three transport officers from the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Cooperatives have been handed over to the police for their alleged involvement in the forgery of fuel cards, resulting in a loss of 357 million shillings through fuel swaps.
The decision to take this action was made following the irregular multiple withdrawals of fuel at the Bukoto Total Energy station on July 30, 2022. Chairperson of the Committee on Trade, Industry, and Tourism in parliament, Mwine Mpaka, confirmed the development expressing concern over the misuse of government funds.
In the Tuesday committee meeting, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Trade, Geraldine Ssali Busulwa, clarified that the expenses for transporting the Ministry documents from Farmers House in Kampala to Entebbe amounted to 59.3 million shillings, contrary to earlier allegations of 400 million shillings.
However, it was also revealed that some Ministry staff have been receiving more fuel than the ministers themselves, prompting concerns about mismanagement of fuel within the Ministry.
Surprisingly, Ssali also discovered that some ministers were not receiving their monthly fuel entitlements. She presented documents showing the fuel consumption of the Ministers, with Senior Minister Francis Mwebesa having received fuel worth 39 million shillings, State Minister for Trade Harriet Ntabazi 59.2 million shillings, State Minister for Industry David Bahati 41.9 million shillings, and State Minister for Cooperatives Fred Ngobi Gume 43 million shillings.
