Buvuma leaders ask IGG to investigate water project

BUVUMA- Buvuma Town Council leaders in Buvuma District have asked the Inspector General of Government (IGG), Ms Irene Mulyagonja to conduct an inquiry into the Shs4.2 billion water project.

Leaders report abuse of funds for a project, which the town received two years ago from the Ministry of Water & Environment under the umbrella water authorities project.

The umbrella water authorities project is aimed at enhancing sustainable access to clean and safe water in rural areas.

According to Buvuma Town mayor, Mr Sebastian Okwale, piped water was supposed to be extended to all 26 villages within the town council, but only six villages benefited under the project.

They include Kitamiiro, Walwanda, Baliba, Lunyanja, Burere and Galamu.
He said even the six villages that got connected to piped water only receive it once a week.

“Only six villages received piped water under the project and the rest were left out. We have complained to district officials, but nothing has been done. So, we want the IGG to intervene,” Mr Okwale said during an interview at the weekend.

“We are going to prepare a formal petition to her (IGG) to ensure that the project is thoroughly investigated.”
Mr Okwale accused the town clerk, Mr Simon Kiyuba of messing up the project.

“He (Kiyuba) has failed to present a report to the council, we have been telling him to sack the chairman water board, who is incompetent, but he refused. The project is not benefiting our people, many residents have resorted to fetching water from the lake, which is not safe for drinking,” he said.

However, when contacted, Mr Kiyuba dismissed the allegations, saying the mayor was using him as a scapegoat.

“Whatever the mayor is complaining about, doesn’t fall under my docket, that project is under Ministry of Water and Environment, so whatever is not going on well, the ministry officials are responsible, not me,” he said.

The Buvuma District water officer, Mr Augustine Ssebuliba, said the only complaint he received from residents was about water being overly rusty and that it was addressed when the old pipes were replaced.

“l received a report that the water which was being supplied earlier was dirty. I wrote to the ministry and they rectified the problem, now the water being supplied in the town council is safe and clean,” he said.

However, Mr Denis Ngabirano from the Ministry of Water and Environment, who supervised the project, said piped water was supplied to only ‘core villages’ due to inadequate funds.

“It is costly to supply water in the whole town council, we normally supply to core areas, it is not cost-effective to spend Shs10b on supplying water to a smaller population, we had to concentrate on areas where there are many people,” he said.

On why the water is supplied once a week, Mr Ngabirano blamed it on the generator they are currently using to pump water, which he said consumes a lot of fuel.

“Running the generator the whole day is costly, but we are planning to switch to solar and very soon, that problem will be sorted out,” he said.

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By June 2016, NWSC had extended piped water to 175 towns, 15,500 villages covering 400 sub-counties in 62 districts. According to the NWSC plan, another 10,609 villages and 7.7 million people will be added to the piped water grid by 2020.

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