Sub-county chairperson charged, remanded over district job sale scandal

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Nakisunga sub-county local council III chairperson, Mubarak Sekikubo, was on Monday, October 27, 2025, arraigned before Mukono Chief Magistrate's Court on charges of obtaining money by false pretence and conspiracy to defraud.

This followed his arrest by the State House Anti-Corruption Unit (SHACU), working closely with the Criminal Investigation Directorate (CID) and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP), who were investigating allegations of job selling in Mukono District.

In a statement shared on Monday, October 27, SHACU said, “the accused, between January and June 2025, in Mukono Town, allegedly conspired with Ronald Saaku Mugerwa, the Probation and Welfare Officer Lugazi Municipality who is on the same charges and Dr Saadi Wataba who is still at large to defraud a job applicant, Dr George William Mukisa, of sh38m falsely claiming they could secure him a government job as a Medical Officer in Mukono District.”

The statement added that the accused claimed 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.

“It is understood that there are other cases where the same officials, in connection with some of the members of the Commission, have extorted money from job applicants,” SHACU said.

In July this year, SHACU, CID and ODPP extended their ongoing probe into extortion and bribery by job applicants to the DSCs of Mukono and Jinja.

The announcement came after the conviction of the chairperson of the Rakai DSC, David Mpuga, by the Anti-Corruption Court for corruption after allegedly soliciting and receiving sh20m from a candidate to secure him a job as an agricultural officer in Rakai District.

Mpuga was convicted after entering into a plea bargain, agreeing to compensate the victim with sh30m, and was fined sh7.2m. He was also barred from holding public office for ten years.

He was arrested in October 2024 by SHACU, working together with CID and ODPP, following public complaints to the resident district commissioner (RDC) of Rakai that he was consistently soliciting bribes for available vacancies.

In the particular case that led to his conviction, the applicant reportedly borrowed sh20m from a bank to pay Mpuga.

SHACU spokesperson, Mariam Natasha, welcomed the ruling and said the unit had since shifted its focus to Mukono and Jinja districts after arrests in Mpigi and Gomba over extortion and bribery.

“The Unit is currently carrying out investigations into 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 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 said they had received several complaints from job applicants who had fallen victim to extortion.

“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.