3 arrested for burning down new sub-county offices while harvesting honey

Police in Nwoya district have arrested three people accused of burning down the newly built Lii sub-county head office while trying to harvest honey from the ceiling.

The suspects include Gloria Becky Atim, an office attendant at Lii sub-county, Francis Okello a boda boda rider and another man only identified as Tabu.

The trio was picked on Saturday, hours after they went into hiding following the Friday night inferno that razed down the multi-million building. The offices had been in operation for just a month after being handed over by Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) which constructed the premises using the revenue sharing fund from Murchison Falls national park.

According to police, Atim, who works as an office attendant at the sub-county office mobilized two other people at about 10 pm on Thursday evening to harvest honey from one of the office ceilings. It is reported that in the process of using fire to smoke out the bees, the fire caught the timber roof structures before escalating and burning down the whole office block.

Aswa River Region police commander, Damalie Nachuha said the suspects will be charged with arson. She says the suspects are being detained at Lii police station pending further investigations. Christopher Omara, the Nwoya resident district commissioner regretted the incident and accused the responsible officials of negligence.

He says the incident raises suspicions and called for a thorough investigation to establish whether it was an accident or a case of sabotage. Omara also wondered how the sub-county officials would comfortably work in an office infested by bees whose honey was even ready for harvest.