Africa-Press – Uganda. Officials from the Bushenyi-Ishaka Municipal Council were engaged in a three-hour session on Thursday to answer concerns arising from shoddy work done on municipal roads and Bushenyi Health Center IV.
This was during a monitoring review meeting held to discuss issues that were raised about the ongoing government programs in the area.
During the meeting, the Bushenyi Resident District Commissioner, Mr Robert Atuhairwe, said that the municipal officials led by the Assistant Engineer, Mr Adam Banyenzaki, presided over poor construction of the Nyakabirizi 0.8km road rehabilitation project, which left locals and leaders with questions.
“When monitoring, we found that the road had several snags. In many spots, bitumen was already peeling off, drainage was poorly done with misplaced culverts, and yet this road is so critical to us. What makes matters worse is that the project was launched in the absence of many people, meaning the officials were concealing a lot from us, and this raises more suspicion,” he told the meeting.
Ms Carol Namara, the Head of Programs and Capacity Building at Western Ankole Civil Society Forum (WACSOF), said the project lacked monitoring and supervision from municipal officials, yet the budget and bills of quantities provided for the task.
“When you look at the bills of quantities, up to 2.8 million was provided for monitoring, but it is like this money was never used for its purpose,” she said.
Ms Namara noted that this was not the first time municipal officials were implicated in shoddy work scandals.
The joint monitoring exercise was conducted by WACSOF in partnership with GIZ under the district integrity forum program running through the districts of Bushenyi, Mbrara, and Ibanda.
The municipal officials, including Mr Banyenzaki, the deputy town clerk, Mr Gilbert Boona, and the mayor, Mr Richard Byaruhanga Nesta, appeared to provide answers to the questions.
They were also tasked with explaining why services at Bushenyi Health Center IV were dwindling, with some departments in a deplorable state. The head of the monitoring team, Mr Atuhairwe, said the blood refrigerator donated to the health center in July 2022 by UNICEF was not functional for one year due to unclear reasons.
“How can we have a good machine donated to us that is not working and serving its purpose? Some information says it could not get room or a reliable power source to make it functional. The ambulance has also been down for the last two weeks. We need more answers to that,” he said.
Mr Banyenzaki admitted that the road project had snags that would be worked on during the curing period.
“I am aware of the potholes, especially on water channels. I am going to repair them. The road was destroyed by heavy traffic that used it before it was ready to be used. Also, where there are drainage issues, stone pitching is expensive, and we don’t have money to do proper drainage,” he told the meeting.
Mr Boona on the other hand said that the road project suffered resource constraints, while Mr Byaruhanga, responded that it has been the habit of his technical officers to make errors and repeat them in every project.
He also told the meeting that while Bushenyi Health Center IV had administrative issues to be handled, it had registered key milestones and improved in the last two years.
For More News And Analysis About Uganda Follow Africa-Press
