Why locals are disgruntled over Moyo road

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Why locals are disgruntled over Moyo road
Why locals are disgruntled over Moyo road

Africa-PressUganda. Moyo residents on Monday held a demonstration calling on government to improve roads in the district.

The locals accused the district chairperson, Mr William Anyama, and some of his executive members, of conniving with the procurement office and the chief administrative officer to breach the procurement laws.

The demonstrators held placards with messages calling on the district leadership to account for the funds they received for the construction of Lot 3 Road in Metu Sub-county.

Mr Albert Vundru, a resident, said the leaders must exhibit transparency, integrity and value for tax payers’ money.

“The national anti-corruption strategies and institutions haven’t intervened and are window-dressing the situation. They have kept quiet because they have no interest to serve. The elected leaders at all levels are paying lip service without lobbying for better service delivery,” he said.

Trouble started last year on February 17 when Moyo District Council held a meeting to source for a contractor to take on a Shs400 million bid for the construction of Lot 3 Road under Development Initiatives for Northern Uganda.

It is alleged that the contract was fraudulently awarded to Uganda Martyrs Construction Company Limited in June 2020.

The district then declined to hand over the site to him and later terminated his contract.This was after he had mobilised materials and equipment to commence work.

According to a November 17, 2020 letter by the then Resident District Commissioner, Mr Williams Labejah, the contractor sued the district after the bid was re-advertised .The contractor reached an out of court settlement.

The donor, United Nations Capital Development Fund, had in June,2020, raised inconsistencies about the project, which were ignored by authorities.

Mr Anyama confirmed some irregularities in the procurement process.“The leadership is not part of the mess. We have instituted a process for the Public Procurement Disposal Asset Authority (PPDA) through the Commission of Inquiry to investigate the process of procurement. Those responsible will have to be brought to book,” he said.

Mr Anyama said Metu Sub-county has a lot of tourism potential and having a better road network would facilitate development.

According to the Development initiatives for Northern Uganda quarterly report between April and June 2020, it indicates that two of the 11 lots (one in Moyo and the other in Adjumani) are still undergoing administrative reviews and quality assurance checks.

Moyo is one of the beneficiaries amongst the districts of Adjumani, Amudat and Abim as per the implementation modality for Financing Agreements signed between the Ugandan government and European Union (UNCDF) and Development initiatives for Northern Uganda (DINU).

In February, 2020 Moyo district local government advertised in the newspaper for procurement of Lot 3 roads Metu from the bidders Ref: Moyo539/WRKS/19-20/00042 subject Procurement Rehabilitation of district and community access roads in Metu Sub County including Amua-Abeso 17.60Km, Metu-Aya 7.35Km and Metu-Gbrari 21.20Km and the contract sum for this lot 3 is Shs 4,176,985,523 with Vat inclusive.

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