Moses Findru, the Arua City Senior Physical Planner, spent Monday night in the cells at Arua Central Police Station for illegally issuing a development permit for the construction of a telecom mast on government land. He was picked on the orders of Beatrice Akello, the State Minister for Economic Monitoring, who was on a monitoring visit to the West Nile region.
Detectives from the State House Anti-Corruption Unit and Uganda Police officers carried out the arrest. The trouble began when Akello, during a meeting with Arua City leaders, discovered that Findru had issued a development permit to the American Construction Towers (ACT) company to construct a telecom mast on land belonging to the Uganda Land Commission behind the Arua Public Library in Hospital Cell, Bazar Ward, Arua City Central Division.
The permit was issued without the approval of the City Physical Planning Committee.
Cornelius Jobile, the Arua Deputy City Clerk, informed the minister that the City Physical Planning Committee and top leaders had previously objected to the construction of the mast by the company due to the absence of the Environmental Impact Assessment report. He expressed his surprise that Findru issued the development permit without the committee’s approval for construction to proceed.
Sam Wadri Nyakua, the Mayor of Arua City, explained that they had made several attempts to halt the mast’s construction. However, the contractor claimed they were acting on orders from higher authorities.
Jackson Atima, the Member of Parliament for Arua Central Division, called for a comprehensive inquiry into the matter, urging that all those involved be held accountable. He highlighted the speedy construction of the telecom mast, which was completed in just two weeks.
Notably, the land where the mast has been constructed was slated for the development of a modern public library and an Information Technology and Communication (ICT) center, with support from the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF).
URN.