Africa-Press – Uganda. The Minister for Science, Technology, and Innovation, Dr Monica Musenero, has recommended the suspension of a silk farming project, claiming it has led to a loss of Shs36b.
Dr Musenero said the money was given to Tropical Institute of Development Innovations (TRIDI), a private company, to promote silk farming but a due diligence exercise by her ministry showed the project failed to materialise.
“Up to FY2021/2022, TRIDI has received and expended a total of Shs36.2b. For FY 2022/2023, Shs42.4b has been allocated to the sericulture project, Shs26b through Vote 001 and Shs16.43b through Vote 002,” Dr Musenero said in a statement on Friday. In an MoU signed between the ministry and TRIDI in FY 2020/2021, the company set several objectives over a five-year period.
One of them was to increase the acreage of mulberry from 200 acres to 50,000 acres in 50 districts.
And to date, 2,000 acres of land have been reportedly acquired by TRIDI in 18 districts and 25 sites. “However, the status and ownership of the land are unclear,” Dr Musenero said.
According to the minister, the executive director of TRIDI, Dr Clet Wandui Masiga, did not indicate how he acquired the land on which mulberry was growing.
“To that date, there is no evidence of any formal agreement between him and the project spelling out the terms and conditions under which this land was being used,” Dr Musenero said.
TRIDI was also given funds to establish eight research and technology transfer centres with full equipment lines (post-cocoon processing, storage, drying, but the minister said some are not operational.
However, while meeting lawmakers on Parliament’s Committee on Presidential Affairs in Bulambuli District on October 12, Mr Masiga said the project was being hampered by disruption on government funding. He called for stable funding to avoid interruptions.
Mr Masiga said it would be a challenge if Dr Musenero continues to hold onto the funds because the project has already made several commitments as a result of the contractual obligations.
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