Minister uncovers mess in Bunyoro govt projects

The minister for Economic Monitoring in the Office of the President, Mr Peter Ogwang, has discovered several ghost government projects, cases of collusion and fraudulent dealings in Bunyoro Sub-region.

In Kikuube District, Mr Ogwang discovered that Shs1.2 billion, which government sent for construction of district administration headquarters, was not put to the intended purpose.

“We were shocked to discover that the money meant for district administration headquarters was instead used to paint old dilapidated structures that belong to Bunyoro Kitara Kingdom,” he said.

The team further discovered that several road construction projects were either shoddy or incomplete.

“Fraud is all over the place. Every district I have visited has serious integrity issues. Covid funds not used and there is no proper explanation,” Mr Ogwang told Daily Monitor yesterday.  

The minister has been inspecting implementation of 2020/2021 government projects in Kiryandongo, Masindi, Hoima, and Kikuube districts for the last five days. Today he is expected in Buliisa, Kagadi and Kakumiro districts.

He also inspected oil roads and on Kakumiro- Buhimba road, he questioned the quality and culverts, which were placed wrongly. 

The minister found that some people got land titles in swamps and wanted compensation.  “You go to these places and wonder whether there are local leaders there. Why should we have ghost projects and fraudulent transactions when we have local leaders? I call upon all political actors to monitor government projects in their respective areas…,” Mr Ogwang said.

He added: “Internal audit system in local governments is dead. You see collusion and syndicated corruption. Internal auditors are just asking what belongs to them when people are not getting the services. I am going to come up with a Cabinet paper to change the way we do things.”  

In the inspections, the minister is accompanied by the State minister of Bunyoro Affairs, Ms Jennifer Namuyangu, and respective resident district commissioners and district chairpersons.

The minister said he discovered that Shs1.8b was sent by government to construct a seed secondary school in Nyairongo but instead the school is cracking before it is officially commissioned.

The minister also discovered that district authorities claimed to have spent Shs5 million to construct a spring well in Kikuube Town Council yet investigations have revealed that the money for constructing the water source was raised by the local community.

According to Mr Ogwang, Kikuube District claimed to have drilled about 22 boreholes at Shs22 million each but in most areas he sampled, the boreholes were non-existent or the district engineer showed him water projects that were done years back.

The Kikuube District chairperson, Mr Peter Banura, welcomed the inspection.
“ The inspection has unearthed many things that need to be urgently addressed,”  he said. 
Mr Banura, who assumed office this year, said the irregularities identified occurred in the past regimes.
 
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