Agago leaders on the spot over irregularities in dam project

The Inspectorate of Government (IGG) has accused Agago District leadership of mismanaging the construction of an animal dam in Adilang Sub-county.

An investigation indicates that in the 2018/2019 financial year, Agago received Shs75m that was meant for the construction of Anyami Valley dam at Unyama watershed under NUSAF III project.

However, the district reverted the funds to the consolidation account.

In the financial year 2020/2021, the district received more money to fund the construction of the same project.
The IGG has since discovered that the budget was inflated, and that the biggest portion of the money was diverted to equipment.  

Mr James Onying Penywii, the director in charge of project risk management and control, said investigations showed that the awarding of contract to Geneber Enterprise Limited for the project was  flawed.

“They did not follow the process of the community procurement guidelines, which is approved under NUSAF III project. We have engaged the community and they have told us what happened.  There were some irregularities and now we have to investigate them to establish its (dam) cost,” Mr Onying said.

He claimed the district authorities diverted money meant for labour intensive to equipment.

“Initially, the ratio was 70 per cent labour and 30 per cent equipment but it was waved off because of the project timeline nearing. It is supposed to be 50 to 50 per cent but unfortunately, it showing that 80 per cent of the money was used to procure equipment and the district authorities are claiming they did everything under the law, something we have to investigate because the costing doesn’t reflect the work done,” Mr Onying said.

He added that in other projects, the contractors were paid 80 per cent of the money yet the agreement permitted for only 50 per cent to be paid at the start of the project.

“In Acuku dam, the constructor was given more money in the first phase. We don’t know why the district decided to do that, and it is worse now because the engineer is demanding more money than the balance documents indicate,” Mr Oying said.

Halt project
Mr Morris Ocan, the district vice chairperson, said they halted the project last year following alleged mismanagement.
Ms Pido Atim, the community development officer, attributed the challenges to lack of supervision from the Office of the Prime minister (OPM).
 
“The OPM abandoned the supervision and that left gaps for technocrats to do whatever they wanted to,” Ms Atim said.

“Some of the technocrats who swindled money in other previous projects were arrested and prosecuted but unfortunately, this particular one lacks that aggressiveness in supervision,” Ms Atim added.  

Mr Andrew Onyuk, the Resident District Commissioner, who took office last year, promised to monitor all government projects in the district to avoid such occurrences.

“I will ensure that no fault is committed on any government or non-governmental projects being implemented in the district and incase of any suspicions, the suspects will be apprehended immediately as investigations commence,”  he said.

The district NUSAF III desk officer, Ms Prossy Atim, pledged to work with the accounting  officer to rectify the irregularities.

“We are not sure of the irregularities but if it happened, we shall sit with the accounting officer and rectify them because this project is supposed to improve household incomes of the beneficiaries,” Ms Atim said.

Statistics from the district indicate that access to clean water is only 59 per cent, leaving residents in some areas to share water with livestock.

Contractor denies wrongdoing

Mr Francis Oryem,  the site engineer for Geneber Enterprise Limited, denied allegations, saying the decision to use most of the money was reached at by the community.  

“This project has more than 168 beneficiaries and these have agreed that 80 per cent of money be used for equipment and 20 per cent goes for their labour. This decision and adjustment on percentage sharing of the project was reached at by them (project beneficiaries) looking at the time factor,” Mr Oryem said.  “This project is supposed to be completed by the end of this month, and work is at 90 per cent completion,”  he added.  

Mr Oryem said the allegations of dubious award of contract and fraud are propaganda being spread by politicians. “There were some politicians who wanted to use this chance to make money but the community was wise enough. I am not aware of any irregularities and I hope the IGG completes its investigation and delivers their report in time,” he said.

[email protected]