Acuku Community Dam in Agago after handover was done. Photo by; Albert Lakomekech Jr
The site engineer and the chairperson of the Acuku community dam project are under probe following missing 7.9million shillings that belong to group members according to the bill of quantities (BOQ) as drafted earlier.
Acuku community dam project was initiated under Northern Uganda Social Action Fund (NUSAF-3) in the financial year 2020-2021 with funding of over 130 million shillings. The work began in February of 2021 without a clear ending date because there was no contract agreement given to the group and other technocrats.
Raymond Olyel, the site engineer and David Komakech, chairperson project management committee (CPMC) have been alleged to have arranged the disappearance of the 7.9million shillings meant for group members.
Johnson Otim, chairperson of Labworo-okema village, Paicam parish in Lamiyo sub-county, Agago district sa dam project was initiated without any clear contract between the group and the contractor from the start.
According to the group members, there are forged documents that the chairperson project management committee in conjunction with the site engineer that claims the group members agreed the 7.9million shillings be deducted from them.
Otim said the group leadership collected 13,000shillings from each of the 53 members for account opening, but the district directed the group leadership to refund the money collected, but all in vain.
Tonny Ochaya Pampas, former sub-county chairperson of Lamiyo said there is confusion in the bill of quantities drafted by the site engineer and suggested that the group leaders and the stakeholders should seek forgiveness from the members over the missing 7.9million shillings.
Paska Akello, Lamiyo sub-county councillor V, female said the community is right because the labour-based sector was not paid the sum of money drafted in BOQ.
“It was found out that 7.9million shillings were embezzled by the focal people concerned with the dam project,” Paska said.
According to her, the community is voiceless without them, and we stand with them in case of such a scenario. The locals were paid less, and the contractor was overpaid.
Atim Prosy Agness, Agago district NUSAF–3 desk officer distances herself from the scandal and said she only based on reports and recommendations from the technical people in the field.
According to her, the activities under any government project must follow the plan planned.
“The scandal was not in my office as all the relevant payment was made in reference with the reports I received accordingly,” she said.
Morrish Ocana, Agago district vice chairperson acknowledges the scandal and said the groundbreaking was not done as it should’ve been plus the handover of the site to the locals.
Ocana further blamed the group leaders and site engineer for being unclear with the public funds from the government because there were no retention fees kept in case there is substantial work.
Meanwhile, David Komakech, chairperson project management committee (CPMC) admits to signing the forged document and said he signed the document unknowingly.
“I received a phone call from one of the members about a letter from the site engineer. I signed it as I was in a hurry due to an accident that resulted in the loss of life of my father,” Komakech said.
Obote Obali Charles, Agago district engineer, insisted that the community had used the 7.9million shillings to buy tools for their work on the dam project.
According to him, there was no agreement made between the group and the contractor, hence making it more difficult for them to obtain the said amount of money.
Raymond Olyel, the site engineer of the Acuku community dam project said locals should stop pointing at him as being a corrupt person until proven guilty by the court.
Olyel accepted writing the forged acceptance letter on behalf of the group members and explained that he only assisted the CPMC to carry his work as it's always done on delegation, though he was not assigned by the CPMC.
According to Olyel, all the planned activities in the BOQ were followed to dot without any divergence, only the locals don’t understand the technical terms in line with the construction works.
He defended handing over the site to the contractor without commissioning it and keeping the retention fees to a time frame that was not favourable as NUSAF projects were closing together with the financial year 2020/2021.
However, Andrew Onyug, Agago Resident district commissioner, was puzzled and asked why there was a hurry in the handing over of the half-baked project to the locals without commissioning it.
Onyug added that the relevant group leaders who signed the documents for payment and others will be responsible and arrested for their acts.
“The project contractor has done nothing because the facilities have not lasted more than months and are not functioning, yet he has been cleared without retaining part of his money,” Onyug said.
He further pledged to follow the missing 7.9million shillings within a period of two weeks.
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