Lugazi doctor charged, remanded over selling govt jobs

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A Lugazi municipality medical officer has been arraigned before the Mukono Chief Magistrate's Court on charges of obtaining money by false pretence and conspiracy to defraud.

According to the charge sheet seen by New Vision Online on November 4, 2025, the state alleges that Dr Saadi Wataba, together with Nakisunga sub-county LC3 chairperson Mubarak Sekikubo and municipal probation and welfare officer Ronald Saaku Mugerwa, between January and June 2025, in Mukono town, conspired to defraud job applicant Dr Mukisa George William, of shillings 38 million by falsely claiming they could secure him a government job as a medical officer in Mukono District.

They claimed that the said money was intended to facilitate members of the Mukono District Service Commission (DSC) in helping him secure the medical officer position for which he had applied, which was not the case.

Mubarak Sekikubo was charged over the same offence on Monday, October 27, 2025 and arraigned before Mukono Chief Magistrate's Court on charges of obtaining money by false pretense and conspiracy to defraud.

All three were remanded to prison.

In July this year, the State House Anti-Corruption Unit (SHACU), CID and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions extended their ongoing probe on extortion and soliciting for bribes by job applicants to the DSC’s of Mukono and Jinja.

The announcement was made after the conviction of the chairperson of the Rakai DSC, David Mpuga, by the Anti-Corruption Court over corruption after allegedly soliciting and receiving shillings 20 million from a candidate, to secure him a job as an agricultural officer in Rakai District.

Mpuga was convicted after he entered into a plea bargain and accepted to compensate the victim shillings 30 million and was fined shillings 7.2 million. He was also barred from holding public office for 10 years.

Mpuga was arrested in October 2024 by SHACU working together with CID and ODPP following a public outcry to the Rakai Resident District Commissioner (RDC) about him consistently asking for bribes on each vacancy available.

In the particular case where Mpuga was convicted, the applicant borrowed money, shillings 20 million from the bank in order to pay Mpuga.

SHACU Spokesperson Mariam Natasha welcomed the ruling and noted that they had since focused their efforts on Mukono and Jinja districts after arrests in Mpigi and Gomba over extortion and soliciting for bribes.

“The Unit is currently carrying out investigations into the sale of jobs by various DSC around the country, with the recent arrests being in Mpigi, Gomba. We are now in Mukono and Jinja districts. Last week in Mukono, we arrested the district service commission chairperson and his secretary over allegations of soliciting for bribes. They are currently out on bond, but we should be completing our investigations and take them to court soon. Our teams are also in Jinja,” she added.

Natasha noted that they had received several complaints from job applicants who had fallen victim to extortion allegations.

“There are those who got the jobs, and they can’t complain, but most people did not. From the investigations, the members of the different district service commissions are asking for a lot of money. In Mukono and Jinja, the DSC members were allegedly asking between sh5m-sh40m, depending on the job,” she added.