Uganda’s Parliament has directed the managing director of the Uganda Railways Corporation (URC), Benon Kajuna, to record a statement with the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID) over 394 railway wagons that authorities have been unable to account for.
The wagons, including rolling stock belonging to Kenya Railways Corporation, are estimated to be worth more than Shs220.8bn.
The order was issued on 23 July 2026 during a meeting of Parliament’s Committee on Physical Infrastructure, where MPs questioned URC officials over the whereabouts of the wagons and criticised the evidence presented to explain their disappearance.
Committee chairperson and Mbarara City South MP Mwine Mpaka gave URC officials an hour to provide documents demonstrating joint efforts with Kenya Railways Corporation to locate the missing rolling stock.
MPs said the documents eventually presented did not contain confirmation from the Kenyan railway authorities establishing where the wagons were.
Click here to join our WhatsApp Group and Receive Daily News
“The assumption is they are in Kenya, but there is also an assumption that some are sold in Uganda,” Mr Mpaka said.
“The managing director is going to go and record a statement at police, and if he does not provide evidence within a week, the next time he reports, then we shall officially open the fire regarding the disappearance of the wagons.”
Auditor General raised concerns
Questions surrounding the wagons emerged prominently in the Auditor General’s December 2025 report, which identified weaknesses in URC’s systems for managing, tracking and verifying its assets.
According to the report, URC was unable to physically verify 131 of its own wagons as of November 2024.
Eighteen were subsequently traced, leaving 113 URC wagons still unaccounted for.
MPs were also told that 281 wagons belonging to Kenya Railways Corporation and placed under URC’s custody could not be accounted for.
Together, the two categories bring the number of unaccounted-for wagons to 394.
Budiope County MP Ssebbugga Kimeze warned that the failure to account for property belonging to Kenya could have implications beyond the financial losses involved.
“As if that is not enough, we actually lost 281 wagons for the Kenyan railways. Property belonging to a neighbouring country goes missing here. In fact, it is stolen by our own thieves here. This is going to cause us a diplomatic problem one of these days,” he said.
MPs question potential cost
Batoro County MP Emmanuel Ilukol told the committee that a railway wagon is valued at about $150,000, raising concerns about the potential financial exposure to taxpayers.
He called for the State House Anti-Corruption Unit to become involved in investigating the matter.
“It seems we are taking it lightly. Up to when must we burden the taxpayer for acts of people that are not accountable for their jobs?” Mr Ilukol said.
URC says tracing process is complex
Mr Kajuna, who assumed office in early 2025, told MPs that locating railway wagons involves an extensive verification process, including engagement between Ugandan and Kenyan railway authorities.
He said URC and Kenya Railways had formed joint committees and held regular meetings aimed at establishing the location and status of the rolling stock.
Mr Kajuna also said documents showing those engagements had been submitted to the committee.
But several MPs said the information provided did not adequately establish whether the wagons were in Uganda, Kenya or elsewhere.
Kole North MP Samuel Opio said each wagon should have identifying information that allows its movements and location to be tracked.
“We don’t know whether they were stolen, we don’t know whether they have been sold, we don’t know whether they are in Kenya. Wagons cannot just be stated to have disappeared. They are supposed to have wagon numbers, identification numbers, traceability of their locations,” Mr Opio said.
The controversy has increased scrutiny of URC’s inventory controls, security arrangements at railway yards and sidings, and the systems used by Uganda and Kenya to track railway assets moving across their borders.
Uganda relies on railway infrastructure as part of its freight network connecting the landlocked country to regional trade routes.
The metre-gauge railway forms part of the Northern Corridor and is used to transport goods between Uganda and Kenya, including cargo moving through the Port of Mombasa.
URC has now been given a week to provide further evidence explaining the whereabouts of the wagons, as MPs consider further action over the unaccounted-for railway assets.
Also Read: Amama Mbabazi’s Daughter Wanted Over Unpaid Shs 450m Loan
