Parliament Report Exposes Accountability Failures at Uganda Railways

Crippling governance failures at Uganda Railways are seemingly derailing national rail performance

Parliament has adopted a report raising serious concerns over financial management, procurement, asset disposal and railway-land protection at Uganda Railways Corporation (URC). The Committee on Physical Infrastructure examined a Shs125 billion Spanish-funded railway project, including a Shs20.8 billion capacity-building component, and found that nearly 90% of the latter reportedly went to five foreign experts. The committee also questioned disputed procurement arrangements, missing railway assets and the corporation’s ability to account for parts of its extensive landholding and rolling stock.

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The findings go well beyond isolated accounting queries. Parliament reported that only 269km of URC’s 1,266km network is currently operational, while fleet availability remains low. It also raised questions over missing wagons, disposal of scrap assets and railway land, including 1,983 acres that remain untitled and more than 24,000 reported encroachment cases. Earlier committee hearings had already examined hundreds of wagons whose whereabouts were unresolved following the Rift Valley Railways concession.

The timing is particularly significant because Uganda is simultaneously seeking to revive rail as a major part of its freight and passenger transport system. New commuter services and proposed network extensions will place greater operational and financial responsibility on URC just as Parliament is questioning the corporation’s stewardship of existing assets. Railway expansion may be necessary, but the report raises an equally important infrastructure-governance question: whether institutional controls are being strengthened quickly enough to manage the next cycle of railway investment.