The State House Anti-Corruption Unit (SHACU), working with the police, has arrested four officials of the Mityana District Service Commission over alleged abuse of office and nepotism.

The suspects are: Dr Fred Lwassampijja, the chairperson of the Commission, Anna Miriam Nassali, the vice chairperson of the Commission, Hussein Mukiibi, the secretary to the Commission, and a member, Andrew Ssekibuule.

According to a statement issued by SHACU on Friday, the arrests stem from the alleged irregular recruitment process of key positions in the district, which includes Municipal Labour Officer, Education Assistant, Accountant Mityana Municipality, Head teachers, and teacher positions of some schools in the district.

Preliminary investigations by State House officials indicate that the accused recruited the said staff without following the necessary employment and appointment guidelines.

"The officials are accused of conspiring to favour their relatives, including their children and spouses, in the recruitment process, significantly undermining meritocracy and fair competition for available positions within the district," a statement issued by the unit following the arrests reads in part.

SHACU says the appointments reportedly occurred without any disclosure of conflict of interest to the Commission, further compounding the ethical violations in accordance with the Leadership Code Act and the Uganda Public Service Standing Orders.

Mariam Natasha, the spokesperson of SHACU, said that the arrests and investigations aim to restore accountability and integrity in the recruitment processes in the district.

"Our timely intervention aims at ensuring that qualified candidates are given equitable opportunities in the public employment sector.

"The arrested officials, when investigations are completed, will be arraigned in court to face charges of abuse of office and nepotism. We ask public officials to desist from these acts because they affect service delivery." She added.

The development comes amid countrywide outcry over the irregular recruitment of job seekers in the local government.

In some districts, according to a mini-survey done by this publication last year, the affected job applicants claimed they are forced to pay huge amounts of money to appear on the short lists, but their names are dropped later under unclear circumstances.

After receiving information on what was happening in some districts, President Museveni last June ordered investigations into corruption allegations in district service commissions. Several officials in the districts of Mpigi, Gomba, Mukono, and Jinja, among others, have since been arrested by SHACU, and some have already appeared in courts of law and charged accordingly.

Unemployment in Uganda is a critical challenge characterised by a high, growing youth population and a significant reliance on the informal sector.

While official, narrow definitions of unemployment often show a low percentage, the broader reality includes high levels of underemployment, with approximately 700,000 to 1 million young people entering the job market annually to compete for limited formal jobs.