KCCA politicians want place on contracts committee

Kampala. The Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) political wing is disgruntled that they have not been co-opted on the contracts committee, accusing its members of bias when it comes to the award of contracts.
Currently, the KCCA contracts committee is comprised of the technical team, headed by the legal director and the politicians have raised the red flag that most local companies have not benefitted from the contracts rolling out in massive infrastructural developments in the city.

The politicians accused KCCA technical team of awarding contracts to international companies yet the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Act (PPDA) provides for the award of contracts to local suppliers as well.

Prohibited
Ms Sarah Kanyike, the Kampala deputy Lord Mayor, told Daily Monitor in an interview yesterday that as representatives of the people, the policy does not provide for them to sit on the KCCA’s contracts committee to oversee the manner in which contracts are awarded.

“As leaders, we are also concerned about how contracts are given out. We believe that some local contractors have the ability to do good work but they are at times not considered. Unfortunately, we don’t sit on the contracts committee and that’s why we are pushing to have representatives of the elected leaders on that committee,” she said.

Ms Kanyike noted that it was wrong for the committee to be composed of people from the technical staff, saying only they could fail to account to the public.
Makindye Division mayor Ali Kasirye Mulyanyama and Lubaga Division deputy mayor Mr Ntare Ahmed too backed Ms Kanyike on the matter.
Whereas Mr Mulyanyama said political inclusion would increase transparency, Mr Ahmed Ntare said the policy of Build Uganda Buy Uganda emphasised the need to give priority to local investors.
“Local companies drain the country of foreign currency yet the locals will use their money here and the economy will be boosted,” Ntare said.

But Mr Peter Kaujju, the KCCA spokesperson, asked politicians to lobby for their inclusions on the contracts committee and dismissed accusations only favouring international companies for city contracts.

“We are working with several local contractors. Take an example of Abubaker Technical Services and Supplies Limited and many more. We award contracts based on their integrity and expertise and of course following the PPDA Act,” Mr Kaujju told Daily Monitor from his office yesterday.
He said some local companies have had contracts terminated over wanting standards like shoddy work, failure to meet deadlines and lack of adequate machinery among others.

Standard issues
Abubaker Technical Services and Supplies Ltd is currently constructing and upgrading roads in Makindye Division.
The roads, which cover 7.35km, include; Kulekana-2.1km, Nsambya-Katwe-0.95km, Jjuko-1.3km, Kevina-1.2km, Appas-1.3km and Bugolobi-Namuwongo Link-0.4km worth Shs31b.
According to the available information from KCCA, majority of the road projects were awarded to international construction companies, something city leaders say is unfair.

Mr Kennedy Okello, the KCCA chairperson of engineering and technical services, said some local companies are not contracted to do city projects because some donors like World Bank and African Development Bank have strict conditions which they attach to their funds.

Uganda is currently promoting the Buy Uganda, Build Uganda (BUBU) policy to empower local service providers.
PPDA through the Inter-Institutional Task Force recently developed a draft implementation Local Content strategy with proposed interventions for the government to adopt in promoting local content in Uganda.

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