Uganda Railways Corporation (URC) Managing Director Benon Kajuna has been directed to record a statement with the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID) as Parliament intensifies investigations into the disappearance of 394 railway wagons worth more than Shs220.8 billion.
The decision was made by Parliament’s Physical Infrastructure Committee during a tense meeting on July 23, 2026, where lawmakers expressed dissatisfaction with URC’s explanation about the missing wagons. Members of the committee said the corporation had failed to provide convincing evidence on the whereabouts of the railway assets.
Committee chairperson and Mbarara City South MP Mwine Mpaka instructed URC to produce proof that it had been working with the Kenya Railways Corporation to trace the missing wagons. However, the documents presented reportedly did little to establish where the wagons are currently located.
Mpaka warned that Parliament would not hesitate to escalate the matter if URC fails to provide credible evidence within a week. He noted that while some of the missing wagons are believed to be in Kenya, there are also concerns that others may have been sold within Uganda.
As part of the ongoing investigation, Kajuna is expected to record a statement with the CID. Parliament says further legal action could follow if the corporation fails to account for the missing assets.
The investigation stems from the Auditor General’s December 2025 report, which exposed weaknesses in URC’s asset management and verification systems.
The report revealed that by November 2024, URC could not account for 131 of its own railway wagons. Although 18 were later recovered, 113 remained missing. In addition, 281 wagons belonging to the Kenya Railways Corporation, which had been placed under URC’s custody, were also unaccounted for, bringing the total number of missing wagons to 394.
With billions of shillings in public assets at stake, Parliament has vowed to ensure those responsible are held accountable and that every effort is made to trace the missing wagons. The coming days are expected to be crucial as investigators seek answers and URC faces growing pressure to explain one of the country’s biggest railway asset scandals.
