President Museveni has suspended the commissioning of the refurbished Doho Rice Scheme in Butaleja district over shoddy work. Abbas Agaba, the Butaleja Resident District Commissioner (RDC), announced on Thursday evening that the president is not contented with the rehabilitation work at the rice scheme and has accordingly suspended its commissioning. Museveni was expected next week to commission the rice scheme.
President Museveni has suspended the commissioning of the refurbished Doho Rice Scheme in Butaleja district over shoddy work.
Abbas Agaba, the Butaleja Resident District Commissioner (RDC), announced on Thursday evening that the president is not contented with the rehabilitation work at the rice scheme and has accordingly suspended its commissioning. Museveni was expected next week to commission the rice scheme.
He said the President has directed for an investigation into the expenditure of the 22 billion shillings that was allocated for the rehabilitation work. Agaba says the President argues that there is no valve for money something that requires investigation into the shoddy work.
He said this follows reports given to the President by a team of technocrats from State House on the rehabilitation work.
The government secured a loan of 22 billion shillings from the African Development Bank for rehabilitation of the 25, 000-acre scheme. The project was initially contracted at Shillings 18.6 billion which government later revised to 22 billion.
The works involved construction of water gates to allow free flow of water from River Manafwa to the rice farms. It provided for access roads for transportation of the produce and the renovation of the offices and the rice factory.
Summit Project Limited was engaged in 2011 to do the works and complete the rehabilitation in October 2012.
This is the first major rehabilitation at Doho Rice Scheme which was established in 1962. The rehabilitation was intended to improve food production and security in the area which is to benefit about 7,000 farmers.
Recently, Ephraim Kamuntu, the Minister for Water and Environment and Tress Bucyanayandi, the Minister of Agriculture handed over the completed project site to the farmers in a function at Doho in Mazimasa Sub-county. But RDC Agaba boycotted the handover ceremony arguing that he could not take part in a facility whose work was evidently shoddy.
Shortly after the handover, a team of technocrats from State House was sent to verify the rehabilitation work. According to Agaba, they only found new water reservoir and water gates that were created while other areas were ignored by the contractor. He said they found the work done could not cost 22 billion shillings that was allocated for the rehabilitation.
He said the report was given to the President who demanded immediate investigation into the work.
Agaba said preliminary investigations indicate that some money meant for rehabilitation work was taken as kick-back by some district officials whom he declined to be name.
There were reports that the rice farmers were organizing a demonstration on the day of commissioning to express their discontent over the work to the president.
