The Anti-Corruption Court has convicted a Human Resource Officer at Bugweri District Local Government after he admitted to illegally creating records that triggered the payment of Shs125.37 million in government salaries to three people who were never government employees.
Wilson Byekwaso, the district’s Human Resource Officer, was convicted by His Worship Paul Mujuni after pleading guilty to causing a financial loss of Shs125,376,925 to the Government of Uganda.
The court imposed a Shs3.26 million fine, with a default sentence of seven years in prison, and ordered Byekwaso to refund the entire Shs125,376,925 to the government.
He was also barred from holding public office for 10 years from the date of his conviction.
How the Shs125 million was siphoned
According to evidence presented to court, Byekwaso abused his access to the Integrated Personnel and Payroll System (IPPS) to create what investigators described as fictitious employment records.
On September 19, 2022, he entered the names of Kadijja Namusubo, Policap Mukisa and Robert Muziraki into the government payroll system, indicating that they were newly recruited employees of Bugweri District Local Government and had been posted to Busembatia Secondary School.
However, investigators established that the three were not government employees.
They had never been employed by Bugweri District Local Government and had never served as teachers at Busembatia Secondary School.
The entries were also allegedly made without following the mandatory procedures for adding new staff to the IPPS.
The fraudulent payroll entries nevertheless went through, resulting in the three individuals receiving government salaries between November 2022 and February 2024.
The payments, according to the investigation, were channelled through their accounts at DFCU Bank, eventually accumulating to the staggering Shs125,376,925 loss to taxpayers.
Ghost workers exposed
Investigations by the Inspectorate of Government (IGG) found no employment records for the three beneficiaries at Bugweri District Local Government.
Investigators further established that the individuals had never worked as teachers at Busembatia Secondary School, despite being presented in the payroll system as government employees attached to the school.
The case therefore exposed how access to the government payroll system could be exploited to create ghost employees and divert public funds through salaries.
Byekwaso initially faced the evidence presented against him during the hearing, but changed his plea to guilty after incriminating evidence was placed before the court.
His guilty plea paved the way for his conviction and sentencing.
The court’s order means Byekwaso must now recover and repay the full Shs125.37 million lost by government, in addition to paying the criminal fine and remaining outside public service for the next decade.
The conviction adds to Uganda’s continuing crackdown on payroll fraud and abuse of public-sector systems, particularly schemes involving ghost workers and unauthorized manipulation of government employee records.
