Kampala – Two LC1 chairpersons were taken into custody by Teso police for allegedly stealing railway sleepers, sparking outrage from Works State Minister Musa Ecweru.
“The metal processors either from Kampala or elsewhere persuade our people to steal with a promise of paying them a lot of money. So, the sleepers are stolen and kept in people’s houses with the hope that they can be bought by those who buy metal and take it to factories where they melt them and fabricate other things,” Ecweru explained.
Ecweru expressed disappointment with the LC leaders arrested, noting that their acts were criminal. “One LC1 chairperson arrested with the railway sleepers in his house carelessly told me that he was keeping the sleepers for safety. I asked him whether he is a storekeeper of the Government or he had entered any memorandum of understanding with the Government to keep those materials,” Ecweru said.
In response to the incident, the ministry will deploy a security unit to monitor railway property from Teso to Acholi region. The rehabilitation of the Tororo-Kampala railway line has been completed, and work on the Tororo-Gulu line is set to resume after securing funding.
“We have secured the money and the work is resuming and by August this year the work will have reached Soroti and by December, we shall be in Gulu where we have built our inland port,” Ecweru said.
Ecweru emphasized the importance of the railway system, saying, “Much as we have continued to work on the roads for as long as the railway system is dormant, the life span of the roads is threatened. This is because all the goods that are supposed to be moved by railway and water are moved by the road.”
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