A fortnight ago, operatives from State House’s anti-corruption Unit, raided the home of the embattled National Animal Genetic Resource Center and Data Bank (NAGRIC & DB) Executive Director, Dr. Charles Lagu’s home in Mbarara District to effect an arrest sanctioned by the unit’s head, Col. Edith Nakalema.
NAGRC is a government agency charged with the preservation and multiplication of livestock through high breeding to enhance sustainable and commercial livestock productivity.
Dr. Lagu, who had been trailed for weeks by anti-corruption investigators, initially resisted arrest but following his acceptance to hand himself over to police, he was later whisked off to Buganda Road Court and remanded to Kitalya Prison.
“We had been looking for him for over a month, so he knew we wanted to arrest him and he decided to hide. That is why after getting a tip that he was at his home we deployed heavily to prevent him from escaping,” an investigator at the Unit in quoted in online news site, Trumpet News as saying.
While in prison, Lagu was interdicted by his line Minister, Hon. Vincent Bamulanzeki Sempijja who also directed the Board Chairman Dr. Johnson Nkuuhe to immediately find his replacement.
Lagu, faces a raft of charges, that among others, including misuse of public office, defying the President’s directive, mismanagement of public funds, and causing government financial loss – all of which re indictable offenses according to Public Services standing orders.
Pearl Bank Celebrates Customers in Festive Campaign Dubbed Pearl SantaThis magazine understands that for example, one of the many offenses levelled against him, Dr. Lagu irregularly gifted several people, including politicians and civil servants with livestock from government farms under his care- including poultry, goats, pigs, and cattle from NAGRIC farms, allegedly to buy political favours and job security. It is understood that beneficiaries of Lagu’s mischievous generosity, have since come out to protest against his arrest.
Investigators are also said to be probing into how 51 high bred bulls disappeared from NAGRIC stock farms in the country including Aswa, Kasolwe, Lusenke, Njeru, Rubona and many others, without accountability.
In a dramatic turn of events, Dr. Lagu now claims that he donated the bulls to Hon Sempijja during the Kalungu NRM celebrations in 2017, something which Hon. Ssempijja denies, saying that NAGRC brought 10 bulls for showcasing at the NRM day celebbrations- just like other agencies under the agriculture ministry did.
The agencies, include: NAADS, Control of Trypanosomiasis in Uganda, Dairy Development Authority (DDA) and UCDA, among others.
