Winstone Katushabe, the Commissioner for Transport Regulation and Safety at the Ministry of Works and Transport, is clean and untarnished despite being dragged into allegations of mismanaging Shs29.5 billion.
Sources close to the investigation say the accusations are “false, baseless and part of a wider mafia-driven plot” to tarnish his name. It is alleged that one of the mafia in town approached CID with a view to having him implicated in their findings.
The Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID), Inspectorate of Government (IG), Auditor General, and PPDA have been probing procurement processes under the Uganda Driving Permit Project, archiving of motor vehicle records at URA, and the remodelling of Uganda Railway’s main station and URA warehouse, but all have found him clean.
However, insiders reveal that no evidence has been found linking Katushabe to any mismanagement.
“Police examined the contracts, payments, and project reports and found no wrongdoing by Mr. Katushabe. The allegations are false and baseless,” a senior source familiar with the probe told Eagle Online.
All procurement documents were certified and handed to investigators. However, delays in responding to CID were only due to the need to retrieve information from third-party institutions such as URA.
Sources say the commissioner has become a target because of his uncompromising stand against corruption and cartels in the transport sector.
“Katushabe is being fought by mafia networks who feel threatened by his reforms and strict enforcement. This is simply a smear campaign,” one source said.
Such allegations reveal how public officials pushing for accountability are often dragged into fabricated scandals meant to destroy their credibility.
