Administrative operations in Sironko District have ground to a sudden standstill following a dramatic anti-corruption sweep ordered by the Minister of Local Government, Balaam Barugahara Ateenyi, on Wednesday, September 16, 2026.
The operation, executed in coordination with detectives from the State House Anti-Corruption Unit (SHACU), targeted almost the entire top tier of the district’s civil service technical team over allegations of massive corruption, extortion, and gross mismanagement of public funds.
Among the high-profile heads of department ordered into immediate custody are Dr. Patrick Charles Okuri, the District Production Officer; Sam Gidongo, the District Engineer; Wanzira Vincent, the Commercial Officer; the District Planner; Khisa Polycap, the District Education Officer (DEO); Dr. Wakoko Paul, the District Health Officer (DHO); the district inspector of schools; the physical planner; and the Principal Human Resource Officer, among others.
The operation also expanded beyond the district headquarters to include officials from the District Service Commission and the District Land Board, as well as town clerks of Sironko and Budadiri town councils. The minister further ordered the arrest of former district engineer Andrew Wasukila.
Additionally, the headteacher of Bugunzu Seed Secondary School in Buwasa Sub-county, along with almost all headteachers of primary schools in the district, were arrested following a spot inspection of government projects that revealed severe accountability failures.
The minister’s operation uncovered 40,000 ghost pupils in primary schools and over 2,000 ghost students in secondary schools, prompting him to order the arrest of 130 headteachers across both levels.
The arrests were triggered by a trail of administrative rot, stalled taxpayer-funded projects, and public outcry over missing funds meant for local service delivery.
Addressing local leaders and the media, Minister Barugahara emphasized that government will no longer tolerate civil servants who sabotage state programmes meant to uplift ordinary citizens.
“We cannot have public resources diverted into individual pockets while schools, health facilities, and roads remain in deplorable states,” the minister said, reaffirming that the sweep is part of an ongoing, uncompromising national campaign for accountability.
With nearly all major technical heads currently in police custody assisting with investigations, the Sironko District local government has been plunged into functional paralysis.
According to Barugahara, the headteachers ordered arrested had inflated the number of students in schools, costing government substantial sums of money.
“The first culprit is the headteacher, the second is the inspector of schools and the District Education Officer. They have made government lose too much money, which would have constructed another seed school in the district,” he said.
Barugahara warned that the era of public servants treating national resources as personal estates is over.
Sironko District LCV Chairperson Nabende Guga also cautioned civil servants against corruption.
“The President has made it clear that service delivery must reach the grassroots. We cannot sit by while billions of taxpayers’ shillings vanish into thin air while hospitals lack medicine and roads are impassable. Whoever is responsible will carry their own cross,” he warned.
Ali Madoi, a resident of Buyobo Sub-county in Sironko District, welcomed the minister’s move to fight corruption, saying the district has been rotten with leaders who only mind about themselves.
“People here don’t mind about service delivery, it’s their stomachs that matter. It’s good the minister has come here,” he said.
By Kirinya Ayubu