Mwesigwa Peterson and Local Government Minister Ballam Barugahara. Peterson said the challenge is not whether corruption should be punished, but whether Uganda’s anti-corruption strategy is addressing the root causes of failing infrastructure. Kampala, Uganda | URN | The Uganda Institution of Professional Engineers (UIPE) has challenged the recent wave of public arrests of district engineers during anti-corruption operations.
The engineers’ professional body argues that while corruption in public works must be confronted, government risks overlooking the deeper structural problems responsible for poor infrastructure across local governments. Speaking during a public dialogue organized by the Uganda Law Society, UIPE President Mwesiga Peterson said the institution supports the government’s campaign against corruption but warned that investigations into engineering projects should be guided by technical expertise and due process rather than public spectacle. The remarks come weeks after Local Government Minister Ballam Barugahara and State Minister for Local Government Justine Namara led inspection tours in districts including Bulambuli and Mbale, where several engineers, contractors and technical officers were arrested over alleged shoddy work, abandoned projects and misuse of public funds.
Images of the arrests circulated widely on social media, drawing praise from some members of the public but concern from professional bodies. “The gains in the fight against corruption are lost when that fight is reduced to theatre, a mockery, public humiliation before cameras, content creation for social media, or playing to the gallery,” he said. Peterson said UIPE stated on July 11, expressing concern over what it described as arbitrary arrests of engineers.
While emphasizing that no professional should be shielded from accountability, he argued that engineering investigations differ fundamentally from ordinary criminal investigations. “Investigating the technical aspects of an engineering project is not the same as investigating burglary or petty crime,” he said. Engineering projects, he explained, require specialized assessment to determine whether defects result from negligence, poor supervision, inadequate funding, flawed designs, procurement failures or factors beyond the control of individual engineers.
“Investigating the technical aspects of an engineering proje…
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