Shs227m meant for construction of govt school diverted

There's growing concern as to how Shs227 million, part of the funds budgeted for building a seed secondary school in Alebtong District was diverted by the supervising body.

This has forced the current Alebtong District administration to recover the money from other sources.

The government through the Ministry of Education and Sports earmarked Shs3.3 billion for the construction of Awei Seed Secondary School under Uganda Intergovernmental Fiscal Transfer (UgIFT), a World Bank financed programme.

Accordingly, the contract was awarded to Wangi General Enterprise (U) Ltd in 2020 and the construction commenced in 2021.

Interestingly, the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development then released the Shs3.3 billion to the project supervisor (Alebtong District) to pay the contractor.

The money was to be used in the construction of six classrooms, a multipurpose science laboratory, a multipurpose hall, staff houses, a football pitch, and an administrative block, among other structures.

However, when the money came through, the then district leadership allegedly picked Shs227 million – part of the Shs3.3 billion budgeted for the Awei Seed Secondary School construction – and used it to implement other district’s planned projects.

Mr David Kennedy Odongo, the current LC5 chairman whose administration inherited the mess, said this project was supposed to have started in 2021. The construction did not start immediately that year because of the delay in the clearance from the Ministry of Education and Sports.

“But the actual work started in the last financial year after it was cleared by the ministry and the project is supposed to take three years. So, we are still within the contract period,” Mr Odongo told this publication at the site on October 31, 2023.

That day, a team from the Directorate of Socio-Economic Monitoring and Research toured the site as the government commenced criminal investigation into the project.

While at the site, the team that comprised officials from the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and detectives from the State House Anti-Corruption Coalition took pictures and interviewed local leaders.

Nonetheless, Mr Odongo said the progress of the work is satisfactory and the contractor is doing a commendable job.

“That is Wangi General Enterprise (U) Ltd. He is moving on well. Right now the work is at the roofing level, and the contractor has not abandoned the site because we have the site foreman here,” the LC5 chairman said.

“What we are told is that he is now reorganizing to bring the iron sheets for roofing all these structures. And for me as a lay person I am still convinced with the process because considering the history of his work, he was the one who constructed Abia Seed Secondary School, Abia Sub-county, which was well done and it was commissioned. So, I still strongly believe he’s going to do wonders here at Awei Seed School.”

Mr Odongo, however, acknowledged that there was one challenge that they had. In the Financial Year 2020/2021 when this work was supposed to be started, there was money already allocated for the project.

“But what we realized later is that money worth Shs227 million, I think part of the Shs3.3 billion, was used by the past leadership to pay for other projects apart from this one here,” he added.

“And this is where we are having the challenge because procedurally if you are taking money meant for a project to another, it needs approval of the district executive and the council, which on record it was not there. I must admit this.”

As leaders who have taken up the position, Mr Odongo said so far, they have done some recoveries from other sources “because we don’t want this project to stall”.

“Out of the Shs227 million, so far, we are left with about Shs90 million that should be recovered to top up and that is the challenge we are having. And as leaders, I think those who did that are under investigation as to under what circumstances they used that money to pay for other projects,” he said.

“This is something which the investigation will reveal but at the moment for us the money which is there is intact and we pray that this project is accomplished within the contract period.”

This newspaper established that the investigation is being conducted by the State House Anti-Corruption Unit.

Mr Patrick Alunyu, an investigator with the State House Anti-Corruption Unit, said they will leave no stone unturned during their investigation.