Counting real cost of Karamoja iron sheets

This publication’s Esther Oluka took the day off yesterday to try and unravel the mystery surrounding the comparatively very high price of about Shs71,000 per iron sheet taxpayers are said to have shelled out. 

As the drama surrounding the Karamoja iron sheets scandal continues to take on a life of its own, questions are now being asked about the procurement processes and cost.

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Since top government officials including ministers and Members of Parliament implicated in the saga received Gauge 28 sand beige-coloured corrugated iron sheets from the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), I reached out to several dealers yesterday to dig for more information about the brand.

The discoveries surprised me.

My first stop, in the morning, was at Roofings Rolling Mills (RRM) whose production factories are located in Namanve Industrial Park in Kira Municipality and one on Entebbe Road, Wakiso District.

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A warm and kind attendant received me. After expressing my interest in buying the sand beige coloured iron sheets, a sudden inquisitive expression came over her face as if she had never heard about this particular colour of iron sheets. 

“We don’t have them,” she said, adding, “But, we have other makes that I can show you.”

She then took me outside their offices and showed me a display of other varieties.

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Unsatisfied, I took my leave and visited other dealers.

At Steel and Tube Industries Ltd, Nakawa office, the answer was the same, “We don’t have that particular colour and make.”

A similar response was got from Royal Mabati Uganda Ltd, Nakawa and Uganda Baati Ltd, in Kampala.

For Tilex Imports Limited in Ntinda, a suburb located outside Kampala City, the response was simply that, “they were out of stock.”

How can they not all have sand beige..., I kept muttering to myself.

The dealers only kept confirming the availability of other types and colours. Some of those they had included smart tiles costing between Shs20,000 to Shs30,000, per metre and G28 AZ roofing iron sheets going for about 14,000, also per metre.

Then I decided to visit MM Integrated Steel Mills (U) Ltd in Kampala, which also houses Kiboko Enterprises Limited.

I was astonished to learn that they had the iron sheets.

A source in the company, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said as much as they sell different types of iron sheets, Gauge (G)-28, sand beige corrugated iron sheets are only produced for the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM).

“We have an arrangement with OPM to produce this specific type of iron sheets for their office. We don’t sell this type to other clients,” the source said, adding, “It is strictly OPM property as it is trademarked.”

Where a client expresses interest in the OPM-specified brand, the source said, such an individual is often referred to OPM to first get authorisation.

The source declined to say how much they are charging for this brand of iron sheets and whether their company secured the contract to supply through competitive bidding under terms governing Uganda’s public procurement regulations. Instead, he referred me to OPM to get more answers.

Mr Charles Odongtho, the new advisor and head of communications at OPM, said he could not comment on the matter, explaining that he is still new in the office.

Mr Odongtho promised to consult over the matter and get back to us.

The Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority (PPDA) confirms that public procurement using the open domestic bidding method shall be open to all bidders, and shall be by public advertisement of a bid notice in at least one newspaper of wide national circulation.

Bidders may also be selected from an existing database of firms already pre-qualified to offer miscellaneous goods and services to the government.

Mr Benson Turamye, the executive director of PPDA, told this publication last night that he is aware that OPM selected its suppliers for the Karamoja iron sheets through a competitive bidding process.

“The facts that I have are that Roofings and that [other] company [MM Integrated Steel Mills (U) Ltd] were selected as suppliers [of the iron sheets]. That is what our preliminary findings show,” Mr Turamye said, adding, “The framework contract involved going through a competitive process and best bidders were obtained.”

Iron sheets saga

The Office of the Prime Minister received 105,658 pieces of iron sheets between February 1 and August 8, 2022 for the Ministry of Karamoja Affairs in three batches; 10,614 from MM Integrated Steel Mills (U) Ltd on day one, a batch of 10,000 G28 pre-painted sand beige Kiboko brand sheets from the same company on April 22, 2022 and a consignment of similar make of 85,044 pieces of iron sheets that M/S Roofing Rolling Mill Ltd delivered on August 8, 2022.