Parliament has directed Benon Kajuna, managing director of the Uganda Railways Corporation (URC), to record a statement with the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (CID) over the disappearance of 394 railway wagons valued at over Shs 220.8 billion.
The directive, issued on July 23, 2026, followed a heated meeting of parliament’s physical infrastructure committee, which expressed dissatisfaction with the corporation’s explanation regarding the missing wagons.
The committee, chaired by Mbarara City South MP Mwine Mpaka, ordered URC to produce evidence within one hour showing joint efforts with Kenya Railways Corporation to trace the missing wagons. However, the documents presented reportedly contained no confirmation from the Kenyan side on the whereabouts of the rolling stock.
“The assumption is they are in Kenya, but there is also an assumption that some are sold in Uganda,” Mpaka stated. “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.”
The matter stems from the Auditor General’s December 2025 report, which highlighted serious weaknesses in URC’s asset management and verification systems. The report found that by November 2024, URC could not physically account for 131 of its own wagons. Although 18 were later traced, 113 remained missing.
In addition, all 281 Kenya Railways Corporation wagons that were under URC’s custody could not be accounted for, bringing the total number of missing wagons to 394. Budiope County MP Eng. Ssebbugga Kimeze warned that the disappearance of Kenyan railway assets could strain relations between the two neighbouring countries.
“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.”
Batoro County MP Emmanuel Ilukol said each wagon is valued at about $150,000, meaning taxpayers stand to bear losses running into tens of billions of shillings.
He urged the committee to involve the State House Anti-Corruption Unit in the investigations.
“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?”
Kajuna, who took office in early 2025, told the committee that tracing railway wagons is a complex process involving continuous verification and bilateral engagement with Kenya Railways.
He said URC and Kenya Railways had established joint committees and held regular meetings to resolve the matter, adding that documentary evidence of those engagements had been submitted. Members of parliament, however, remained unconvinced.
“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,” said Kole North MP Samuel Opio.
The missing wagons have raised concerns over weaknesses in URC’s inventory management systems, security at railway yards and sidings, and cross-border asset tracking arrangements between Uganda and Kenya.
Railway wagons are a critical component of Uganda’s freight transport network, facilitating the movement of imports and exports along the Northern Corridor through the metre-gauge railway linking Uganda to the Port of Mombasa.
