Minister orders Contractor to correct road defect

BULIISA – Minister of State for Urban Development, Mario Kania Obiga has demanded for the immediate rectification of some faults found on a road constructed under the Albertine Region Sustainable Development Program [ARSDP] in Buliisa town council, Buliisa district.

Minister Kania Obiga, who was in Buliisa district inspecting the government projects implemented in the Albertine region funded under the Albertine Region Sustainable Development Program (ARSDP) discovered some issues on the road being constructed by China Communication Construction Company (CCCC).

According to him, the drainage channels were poorly planned and as a result these channels are pouring water into people’s homes.

https://thecooperator.news/kwik-build-contractors-engineering-ltd-to-be-blacklisted-over-shoddy-works/

The roads that measuring 7.3 Kilometer of tarmac include; Ngongo, Commercial, Muhoojo, Kyamurwa, Baker, lift valley, Speke, Waguria Mutiiti and Karoro.

According to the officials, construction of these tarmac roads and the installation of street lights cost the government Shs.26 billions.

Under this program of ARSDP, the government constructed 31.3 gravel roads in Buliisa district, worth Shs.5 billion to help farmers and the general population to access markets for their produce and other social services.

During the inspection of the road, some of the residents told the officials that their houses were on the verge of collapsing because of the water that submerges their houses when it rains.

Prosper Amanya and Godfrey Nyendwoha, some of the affected residents from Civic cell in Buliisa town council claimed that the contractor directed the water channels to their homes and they have complained several times of help in vain.

Amanya said, recently they petitioned the office of the District Planner, the Community Development Officer to address the issue but when they visited the area, they never helped them.

Nyendwoha also complained that as the contract worked on the channels, he left some homes without access roads adding that they just have to jump to reach their house and called for intervention.

While reacting to the issue, Minister Kania called on the residents to remain calm and ordered that this issue be corrected with immediate effect.

“The issues of the drainage that I think was a major omission at the design stage, must be corrected immediately but because the contractor went with what was designed. I can’t say that it is shoddy work, despite having seen it, but that is a defect which needs to be addressed,” he explained.

However, he challenged the leaders to mobilize the locals to utilize the project and also to own and protect the facility for its sustainability.

He noted that the government has invested a lot of money in the ARSDP for the improvement of service delivery and development of the local people adding that the task now is with the local leaders to sensitize the citizens to get prepared for the opportunities created by the programs.

Engineer Joseph Ochaya, an official from the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development said, the Ministry is in the final stages of procuring a supervising consultant to conduct a study which will provide a proper drainage master plan.

He further explained that the firm will conduct Hydrological study and the study will provide the final decision to the Ministry on how to evacuate water from the area.

“The consultant will come with a team of experts such as high way designing Engineers and Hydrologists, so the firm will conduct Hydrological study and that study will inform how to evacuate water from the Albertin, but as you can see the challenge is not only with us, you have even seen Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) roads where they are also struggling with water along the channels, so the issue of water here need a proper master plan,” he explained.

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Nwoya district service commission to recruit 20 Parish Chiefs

NWOYA – Nwoya district local government is to prioritize the recruitment of parish chiefs, as the government extends the recruitment deadline to end of this month. Nwoya district has a total of 44 parishes but are yet to recruit people to fill in the vacant 20 parish chief positions.

In a letter dated 7th October, 2021 by the Permanent Secretary, Ramathan Ggoobi, Ministry of Finance Planning and Economic Development says, several districts in the country had not met the 30th September,2021 deadline to have all the positions of parish chiefs filled.

Ggoobi also noted that if not addressed, this would constraint government’s effort to eradicate poverty through the Parish Development Model (PDM).

https://thecooperator.news/older-persons-demand-inclusion-in-the-parish-development-model/

In an interview with our reporter, Emmanuel Orach, the Nwoya district LCV Chairperson says, the district had approved a five members team to the District Service Commission (DSC) and it included; Venancio Okidi as the Chairperson, Alexi Ocitti, Joseph Olango, David Odong, and Florence Lapobo.

Orach says, the lack of a functional District Service Commission had affected the recruitment of staff into the district for over a year. The terms of the previous service commission expired in July 2020.

“We don’t want to be the reason for the failure of the Parish Development Model, with a new service commission approved, and recruitment deadline extended to the end of this month, we want to ensure we beat the deadline and implementation starts,” Orach said.

Geoffrey Axuma, the Nwoya District Information Officer says, last year when they attempted to recruit more than 60 new staff using Omoro’s District Service Commission, some people were not happy and reported the matter to the Inspector General of Government (IGG) which blocked the recruitment.

He says, among those blocked included the Parish Chiefs, District Commercial Officer, Natural Resources Officer and the District Finance Officer which are yet to be recruited to date.

“Last year, when we wanted to recruit more than 60 people using the Omoro District Service Commission because we didn’t have ours, people ran to IGG which eventually blocked the recruitment process, so we were left to operate without people in critical positions like the District Finance Officer, Commercial Officer and Natural Resources Officer in addition to the Parish Chiefs among others,” says Axuma.

According to Axuma, as a result, the district received funds for the Parish Development Model of which implementation should have started by 1st October, 2021.

“We have received funds which should have started to be used to implement the Parish Development Model, as per the 1st October plan by the government. We can’t use the money yet because we need to have all the positions of Parish Chiefs filled,” Axuma explained.

The Parish Development Module has been adopted into the 3rd National Development Plan as a strategy for rural and socio-economic transformation. The parish will be the epicenter of multi-sectoral community development planning, implementation, supervision, monitoring and accountability.

The LC2 Chairperson and parish chief shall be responsible for political stewardship in the implementation of the parish model in their respective parishes with support from the sub-county and district technical planning committee.

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Five Companies pre-selected to supply Irrigation Equipment to Nwoya farmers

NWOYA – Five private companies have been pre-selected to supply irrigation equipment to 141 selected farmers in Nwoya district under a micro-scale irrigation program introduced by the government.

Solar now, Ferrest Investment limited, Balton Uganda, Advo International and Adritex will be evaluated to provide irrigation equipment which include; solar panels, water sprinkler and a water pump generator.

Tabu Justin, the Senior Agricultural Engineer, Nwoya district said they intend to work with all the five companies but the number of farmers allocated to each company will be determined after evaluation.

“The evaluation committee will do selection of the best bidders but we intend to give work to all the five companies although the number of farmers per supplier will vary,” he said adding that a decision will be made in November.

A total of 362 farmers were registered for the cost sharing project where the government will pay between 25 and 75% of the total cost of the irrigation equipment depending on factors like the size of the land, distance from water points and cost of equipment.

Tabu said that the remaining 221 farmers will be included in the next financial year.

“All the 141 farmers have already been assessed and will get their equipment by December 2021. The others will be rolled out in the next financial year,” he said.

The goal of the program is to create at least 1.5 million acres of irrigated land in Uganda by 2040.

During a training of the selected farmers on Wednesday, Akello Agnes Ebong, the Nwoya Resident District Commissioner urged the companies to supply only genuine equipment.

“I insist that you give us the right technology and the right items so that our farmers can do something good with them,” Ebong said.

She also urged the selected farmers to utilize the equipment to increase their productivity.

Ajok Kevin Okot, a farmer from Anaka town council who benefitted said, “I will be able to plant crops throughout the year. We have always relied on only two seasons to do farming.”

Felix Ouma, another farmer from Alero sub county said, the irrigation equipment will help address the challenge of unpredictable weather faced by farmers.

“The weather today has changed. In the past, we were able to predict the seasons but today we can’t. Sometimes, we plant crops then rains stop and we can’t do anything to save our crops.”

Unpredictable weather has seen farmers in Acholi sub-region lose crops annually to drought and flooding.

The project is being piloted in more than 40 districts across the country including Nwoya, Omoro and Amuru districts in Acholi sub-region.

The equipment is meant to irrigate up to 2.5 acres of land.

In September 2020, Nwoya district received Shs 48 million from the Ministry of Agriculture, which was used for sensitization of farmers and establishment of two demonstration farms in Koch Goma and Got Apwoyo sub-counties.

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Kwik Build Contractors & Engineering Ltd to be blacklisted over shoddy works

KIKUUBE – The State Minister for Economic Monitoring, Peter Ogwang has ordered for Kwik Build Contractors & Engineering Ltd to be blacklisted in the district for shoddy work.

The company owned by Patrick Isagara, a resident of Hoima City was contracted by the government to implement the construction of several seed secondary schools in Bunyoro region including Kigorobya Seed Secondary School in Hoima district, Nyairongo Seed Secondary school in Kabwoya sub-county, Kikuube district and Nyamarwa Seed Secondary School in Kibaale district among others.

The company is accused of producing shoddy works on these projects that were contracted to them by the government through the Ministry of Education with funding from the World Bank.

During his impromptu visit to monitor different government projects in Bunyoro, Minister Ogwang discovered several defects on the two projects and ordered for the blacklisting of the company from carrying out any project in Bunyoro.

Ogwang noted that during his inspection, the Shs1.8 billion in Nyairongo Seed Secondary School project which started in 2019 had developed big cracks on the floor, in the laboratory and on the ceiling.

Though there are still uncompleted works on the project, the contractor was paid 95% of the Shs.1.8 billion and this has seen several district officials arrested.

He noted that the walls have also developed cracks adding that the material used during the construction was sub-standard.

According to Ogwang, the identified defects discovered on the project may lead the school structures not to exist for more than 10 years.

https://thecooperator.news/governance-row-over-kabushaho-seed-school-before-construction-is-complete/

He explains that the same defects which were in the Nyairogo project were also discovered on the Kigorobya Seed Secondary School which is also worth more than Shs.1 billion.

He noted that the remaining 5% cannot handle the defects on the project and demanded the Ministry of Education to carry out forensic audit on most of the government projects implemented by Kwik Build Contractors & Engineering Ltd.

The District Engineer, Emma Arinaitwe and Julian Kusiima, the district Chief Finance Officer among others are being held responsible for the Nyairogo project.

This contractor is also accused for delaying the construction of Nyamarwa Seed School in Nyamarwa sub-county, Kibaale district

The government contracted Kwik Build Contractors &Engineering Ltd in 2019 to construct the seed school and works were supposed to have been completed in December 2020 but to date, the seed school has never been completed.

The Shs.1.8 billion seed school project according to the bills of quantities was to include construction of classrooms blocks, administration block, ICT block, science laboratory, pit latrines, fencing of the school and leveling of the sports field.

Dorothy Ajwang, the Kibaale Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) told theCooperator news that the contract period for the construction of the seed school has elapsed and they have only given a one-month ultimatum to the contractor to have completed the work or else his contract would be terminated.

Sources at Kikuube police station said that the Company Director Isagara, was recently summoned to make a statement but he never responded to police summons.

However, some residents claim that the contractor was given many projects that are beyond his capacity.

James Murungi, a resident of Nyairongo village Kabwoya advised the government to always get different contractors to implement its projects instead of giving more than 5 projects to one contractor which results in producing shoddy work and lack of value for money.

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Ministry of Education and district leaders faulted over long-standing fight for denominational schools

ACHOLI & LANGO -The State House Anti-Corruption Unit has faulted the District Education Officers and Chief Administrative Officers in Acholi and Lango sub-regions over the longstanding fight for primary, secondary and technical schools.

So far, more than 60 schools and technical institutes in Acholi and Lango sub-regions are embroiled in conflicts over denominational schools between the Catholic and Anglican Church, and the community.

Some of the affected foundation body schools include; Lakwor Primary School, Lyelokwa where both the community and the Anglican Church are claiming ownership of the school.

In Agago district, Arumu Odwong, Olyelo wii Dyel and Amyel Primary Schools are all being claimed by both the Catholic and the Anglican church.

Kitgum district has 5 schools in contention; in Pader, 12 Schools are embroiled in conflicts. Aringa Primary School in Pader, has parents from both Catholic and Anglican denominations discouraging their children from joining the school. School enrolment in Aringa Primary School is as low as 50 pupils.

In the Lango sub-region, Lira district and City have 14 schools, Alebtong and Otuke have 3 each, Dokolo 3 schools where the Anglican and Catholic Church alongside the community members all claim ownership.

When tasked to explain the origin of the conflicts, most of the education officers accuse the headteachers of the schools for changing details in the school censor forms.

Fred Owot, the Kitgum District Education Officer says, his findings show that most of the conflicts started when the school coding by the year 2000 indicated most of the schools were community aided schools.

Owot claims that after having gone to the Ministry of Education to get clear and authentic documents, he was only given information on an excel form which they used to settle conflicts in 2 schools.

Francis Olwoch, the Pader District Education Officer citing one of the schools, Aringa Primary where according to the statistical data, indicates that the school was founded by the Catholic Church in 1967 and was later changed by one, Peter Obwona, the former headteacher of the school alleging that the school was founded by the Anglican Church in 1983.

Olwoch blames the staff of the Ministry of Education for not documenting details of schools coded. He claims that several of their attempts to get documents from the Ministry of Education and Sports have been fruitless because of limited information.

Alfred Malinga, the Otuke District, Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) says, the conflicts have affected the construction of Okol, Okum and Ogwette Seed Secondary Schools despite having received the money.

For the case of Okum Seed Secondary School, Ogwette says ownership of land by both the community members and the Anglican Church has halted the commencement of construction. Similarly, for the two other schools, the community have revolted against the decision by the Catholic Church to give additional land to construct the structures for the schools.

According to Malinga, they have noticed that there are some groups of people who are not from the Catholic denomination, who are convincing the community members not to accept the construction of the schools on grounds that the Catholic church already has benefited from the government’s support to the education sector in the district.

Ismael Mulindwa, the Director Basic and Secondary Education at the Ministry of Education and Sports says, they have held several meetings with the various stakeholders to solve the issues arising over ownership and foundation bodies have not yielded any fruits.

What the religious leaders say.

Bishop Winston Kitara, of the Diocese of Kitgum, citing cases of Akwang Secondary School where a family with the backing of the clan donated land for the establishment of the school has seen some government officials failing to declare that the Anglican church are its rightful owners.

Kitara notes that sometimes as church leaders, they are forced to take actions because of the lack of commitment by the public servants including Chief Administrative Officers (CAOs), District Education Officers (DEOs) and some staff of the Education Ministry.

Bishop Alfred Olwa of the Lango Diocese accuses the public servants for intentionally frustrating their efforts to peacefully solve the conflicts between the religious denominations.

According to Olwa, the Education Act of 2008 which requires all the schools to register foundation bodies was one of the biggest challenges because not everyone understood the concept.

Bishop Lino Santos Wanock, of Lira Diocese says, the conflict between the Catholic and Anglican churches is embarrassing and uncalled for. If the conflicts are to be solved, the religious denominations should respect the initial position of the foundation.

Currently, the Catholic and the Anglican Church in Lira are battling for ownership of some of the schools in the Lango sub-region.

https://thecooperator.news/world-bank-builds-a-shs2-billion-school-in-otuke/

Bishop Emeritus of Lira diocese, Giuseppe Franzeli says, the said conflict is a manifestation of confusion from the locals, public servants, government and the religious leaders. Franzeli says the whole conflict over schools and other institutions is being perceived as a power struggle between the religious leaders.

According to Franzeli, for the conflicts to be best resolved, the community members who own the lands should be involved alongside the other stakeholders to ensure the issues are resolved.

Lt Col Edith Nakalema, the Head of the State House Anti-Corruption Unit blamed the District Education Officers (DEOs) and Chief Administrative Officers (CAOs) for the long-standing confusion.

Nakalema was speaking during a consultative meeting with religious leaders from Gulu Archdiocese, Lira Diocese, the Diocese of Northern Uganda, Lango West and Lango Dioceses in Gulu City; on the directive of President Museveni and Education and Sports Minister, Janet Museveni following series of public outcries.

Nakalema further says, it is difficult to agree with public servants that details of schools and their foundation bodies have changed, and they don’t detect and act upon them.

Nakalema gave until 16th of November, 2021 to the Ministry of Education and Sports to produce the list of schools embroiled in conflicts to her office and also ordered her detectives to carryout prosecution led investigations against the public servants who have failed to prevail over the issues that have seen religious leaders conflicting.

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Kagadi hailstorm destroys 1000 acres of crop gardens

KAGADI – More than 3,000 farmers from 7 villages of Kisuura parish Bwikara sub-county, Kagadi district are counting loses after heavy hailstorms destroyed their farms and killed animals.

The heavy rains coupled with hailstorms started in the wee hours lasting for seven hours, destroying hectares of food crops.

The most hit areas are Kicwamba A, Lusaka, Mantuntu, Ngoma, Rugaana, Karambi, Kisuura and Harubaaki all in Bwikara sub-county.

The affected residents are in fear that hunger might strike the area since all they had planted including maize, beans, sorghum and banana among others had been destroyed.

Tibareka Adrian, one of the affected farmers and an area counselor, told theCooperator news that he lost 50 acres of banana plantation to the hailstorm.

Simewo Tubahemuka another farmer, also lost 10 acres of banana plantation and one acre of cassava.

According to them, the plantations have been their source of income and food for their families, adding that they are now stranded.

Moses Murungi, a farmer from Ngoma village lost two acres of maize and one-acre beans and another for cassava. He said the crops had already flourished and were ready for harvest in one months’ time.

Moses Murungi said some of his fellow farmers lost hectares of plantation of coffee, groundnuts and sugarcane which had been their sources of livelihood.

He called on the authorities to come to their rescue and provide them with food, saying they are likely to starve.

https://thecooperator.news/farmers-worried-about-unpredictable-weather/

Dr. Moses Amanya, the Kagadi District Production Officer (DPO) said, the catastrophe left several people homeless after a storm unroofed over 30 houses, schools and churches.

According to him over 3,000 people were affected by the catastrophe and more than 1,000 acres of plantations were destroyed adding that several animals such as pigs, goats and poultry were killed.

Amanya said the Kagadi district disaster management committee will assess the magnitude of the damage before lobbying relief to the affected residents.

Barnabas Tinkasimiire, the Buyaga West MP through his Political Assistant,John Twesige expressed concern over the disaster and blamed it on environmental destruction.

He promised to lobby for relief from the Prime Minister’s Office to the affected residents, adding that this time, the government through the Ministry of Disaster Preparedness will take on the concerns of the residents and provide them with food and seeds to people whose gardens and plantations have been destroyed.

They said people had utilized the lockdown well by engaging in agriculture but now all their efforts have been despised.

Kagadi district is prone to such catastrophes; last season over 100 families in the same district were left homeless after a hailstorm hit the area leaving several houses and plantations destroyed.

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West Nile coffee farmers advised to ensure quality control for the international market

NEBBI – Coffee farmers in West Nile region investing in organic Arabica coffee have been advised to maintain the quality of coffee beans in order to maintain coffee quality that suits the international market.

This was revealed during Power and Voice Stake holders’ Engagement meeting, held at GAF Hotel in Nebbi Municipality.

Agency for Community Empowerment (ACE) advised farmers in West Nile region to promote Coffee and Horticulture with the aim of enhancing value chains to increase their production and income.

According to the Program Coordinator, Agency for Community Empowerment (ACE) Aggrey Chombe says, for many years, coffee farmers couldn’t differentiate coffee that could meet the international market but with the trainings being held, farmers are able to process quality coffee needed for exports.

“We do central processing, storage and quality control of coffee that meets the international standards through close monitoring of farmers,” Chombe said.

He adds that the organization that started in 2011 has so far trained 5000 farmers across the region, where females contribute 50% and males also contribute 50% in micro coffee processing for export through shade drying of coffee that meets the international moisture content of 11-12% world market.

He said last year as a result of trainings of farmers on post-harvest handling and quality assurance, the organization managed to buy quality coffee beans from coffee farmers and exported more than 3 containers of the processed coffee to Netherlands, New Zealand and Kuwait and that was first success registered.

“To meet the international market, farmers must practice under shade coffee drying with the moisture content of 11-12%,” Chombe said.

The district Production Officer of Nebbi, Severio Nyakuni said, if coffee farmers don’t properly handle the coffee, it’s price and quality in the world market gets affected due to poor storage and drying of coffee.

Nyakuni says, farmers must be trained on quality control so as not to cause a decline in coffee prices in the world market due to ignorance in handling coffee.

“The price of our organic coffee is not steady because our coffee farmers are desperate to generate quick money due to poverty rather than set quality coffee beans which fetch higher price,” Nyakuni said.

However, Secretary for Production and Natural Resources Nebbi district local government, Morris Kwach says, it’s a mandate by the government to rehabilitate the traditional cooperative societies for economic prosperity of farmers to realize the benefit of cooperatives.

https://thecooperator.news/masindi-youth-advised-to-form-cooperatives/

He said it would be easier to train farmers on quality control if coffee farmers are in their cooperative unions such that the country exports quality coffee which competes globally and the benefit comes back to farmers through their cooperatives in terms of bonus.

“To change the mindsets of our people to cooperatives, we need to empower cooperative societies like in the past when they would benefit struggling farmers by setting prices for their commodities,” Kwach said.

The Nebbi Deputy Resident District Commissioner (DRDC) Emmakol Onyango says, coffee has money but in most cases the money ends up in the hands of middlemen who dictate over the price of coffee for profit margin, but if farmers could bulk their coffee, there would be progress.

“We have seen farmers selling their farm products from their gardens without even resting in their stores or granaries and this is a sign of poverty among the farmers which calls for the capacity building of our farmers,” Onyango said.

Meanwhile, one of the officials from Uganda Coffee Development Authority (CDA) operating in West Nile region, Andama Otubu says, most of the farmers are lazy in handling their beans and this affects the quality and the price of coffee in the world market.

He adds that, coffee must be dried on tarpaulins and must be washed with clean water such that the quality and prices of coffee is not affected by dust due to poor handling right from its production process.

Andama said, this year the price of parchment coffee beans per kilo with the moisture content of 11% is Shs.7500 and red cherry goes for Shs.1500 per kilo, meaning that if a farmer maintains the quality of his coffee beans, he or she reaps a lot per season.

One of the coffee farmers in Nebbi district, Salvatore Okumu says, the on-farm sales of coffee have affected their coffee returns and at the end of the season, farmers are left bare handed without physical cash for tangible development.

“It’s quite hard to maintain quality control because farmers have different levels of poverty which bars most of them to practice quality control and besides that, the presence of middlemen have taken the center stage of the farmers,” Okumu said.

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Prime Minister Nabbanja intervenes in a refugee camp land conflict

KIKUUBE – Rt. Hon. Nabbanja Robinah,Prime Minister of Uganda has stopped the resettling of Congolese refugees on a disputed land in Bukinda parish, Kwangwali sub-county, Kikuube district.

Nabbanja who visited the disputed land together with Hon. Judith Nabakooba, the Minister of land, State Minister for Disaster and Preparedness, Easter Anyakuni, Fred Byamukama, State Minister for Works and Minister for Public Service, Mary Grace Mugasa found officials from her office constructing houses on the disputed land to settle part of 1,100 refugees who were recently received in Kyangwali refugees’ settlement area.

Kyangwali refugees’ settlement area was started in 1955 after the Bunyoro Kingdom leased the land to the then government.

https://thecooperator.news/kikuube-rdc-orders-the-arrest-of-police-officers-for-acting-unprofessionally/

The Prime Minister’s visit followed a petition from the area Women Member of Parliament (MP), Florence Natumanya demanding for her intervention into the continued suffering of the host communities who were allegedly evicted from their land by the Prime Minister’s Office in 2013.

In 2013, more than 60,000 residents who were accused of encroaching on Kyangwali refugee settlement camp land in the then Hoima district were evicted and left in the Internally Displaced Camps.

They were from 31 villages which included; Bukinda A and B, Bukinda 2, Kavule, Bwizibwera A and B, Kyeya A and B, Nyaruhanga, Kabirizi, Nyamigisa A and B and Katoma among others.

Nabbanja explained that in 2018, President Museveni stopped the utilization of the land until the dispute was settled but his directives were not respected.

Nabbanja who suspected that the officials started settling the refugees on the disputed land, when they heard that she was visiting the area to cover-up the evidence.

She halted the settling of the refugees on this land and ordered John Bosco Kyaligonza, the commandant at Kyangwali refugee’s settlement area to settle these refugees on another piece of land.

Several Ministers including the former Prime Minister, Ruhakana Rugunda have since 2014 attempted to resolve this dispute but failed and Nabbajja promised to settle these issues within one month.

The dispute on this land started after the Office of the Prime Minister and natives (host communities) started claiming the ownership of the same land measuring 35,000 acres.

It is alleged in the survey that was conducted in 1998, that the settlement area was given 91 square miles and the locals 36 square miles but the settlement management which is the Office of the Prime Minister have continued to encroach on community land and now the settlement has 142 square miles of land.

This challenge left thousands of local people (host communities) evicted and now many are living as internally displaced persons.

Several offices including Parliament, police and inter-ministerial verification committee comprised of officials from Ministry of Internal Affairs, Disaster Preparedness and Refugees and those from Ministry of Lands which was headed Maj.Gen. Julius Oketa made the reports and recommendation over this dispute but the residents (host commutates) rejected these reports claiming that the reports were biased.

As a result of the pressure, officials from the Office of the Prime Minister started resettling the evictees on land located in Kyeya giving each family 2.5 acres but the residents claim that the land is infertile and demanded to be taken to their land where they were evicted.

While addressing affected persons, Nabbanja promised to organize a meeting between the evictees and area leaders within two weeks so that they can meet the President to get a lasting solution to the problem.

Nabbajja also promised to follow the matter adding that people who will be found with land titles on refugee land, will be ordered to quit. She added that they are going to investigate and if they find that people were evicted illegally, officials behind the act will be punished adding local communities who will be found to have occupied the refugee land illegally will be ordered to go where they came from.

Judith Nabakooba, the Minister of Land called on the residents to remain calm adding that her ministry will soon organize the boundary opening exercise on disputed land.

She asked the Prime Minister Nabbanja, to allow them to carry out boundary opening of the land adding that, this exercise will end the standoff which has lasted for about 10 years.

“When we open boundaries, we shall be able to know the size of the land for the settlement, the land for the local and we shall be able to identify illegal land titles on this land,” she appealed.

Meanwhile, the Minister for disaster preparedness, Easter Anyakuni, said there is a need to first scrutinize all the reports that were done by different offices before taking decision on the matter.

“Honorable Prime Minister, I request that we should not make a final position on this issue, reports were made and recommendations which we should study thoroughly and thereafter we shall come back here with the right answer,” Easter Anyakuni advised.

The area leaders Florence Natumanya and Peter Banura Kikuube district boss commended the Prime Minister for her intervention, adding that several reports have been made and the President directed the Office of the Prime Minister to handle the matter but in vain.

They were optimistic that the intervention of Nabbanja will bring an end to this conflict and suffering of the host communities and they will be able to return to their land.

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Lango MPs query the verified cattle compensation list by government

LANGO – Lango Parliamentary Group (LPG) has queried the list of 18,469 beneficiaries of cattle compensation verified and validated by the government.

They said the number of animals stolen during the insurgency in 1986 is much more than the equated 608,755 consensus.

The government earmarked Shs.150b to compensate Lango, Teso and Acholi for cattle looted by the Karimojong.

In this financial year, the three sub-regions will share Shs.50b and another phase in the next financial year.

In 2010, war victims under the Lango War Claimants Association, dragged the government to court in a civil suit number 027/2010 at Lira High Court demanding compensation for their animals and property lost during the war between 1986 and 2006.

Four years down the road (2014), Justice Simon Byamukama Mugenyi, now Electoral Commission Chairperson, ruled in favor of the claimants and ordered the government to pay Shs. 2.9 trillion.

The government was ordered to pay 69,457 war victims to help them rebuild their lives and recover from the economic inconveniences inflicted on them during the war.

According to the court, a total of 1,100,055 heads of cattle were lost and each should be paid at Shs. 900,000, goat owners be paid Shs 796,377 goats and sheep be paid at the Shs.160,000.

But according to LPG, the payment rate for each cattle should be Shs.1 million and the government was yet to determine the rates for sheep, pigs and goat.

https://thecooperator.news/apg-withdraws-ultimatum-after-reaching-agreement/

Last month, Lango Parliamentary Group headed by Kole woman MP, Judith Alyek held a meeting in Lira City with the claimants and found that a number of them were dissatisfied with the process because of the missing names, failure to display the list and lack of sensitization.

Other anomalies include; short time for the exercise, challenges to obtain information from the claimants due to the short period given and complaints from claimants who didn’t go to court.

“Several options were raised on the payment plan including part payment of the claim to ensure all claimants benefit from every round of payment,” the legislators said in their report compiled by Kole North MP, Dr Samuel Opio Acuti.

In the list released by the government, Alebtong has 3,356 approved claimants, Apac 2,662, Dokolo 1,276, Kole 1,719, Lira 4,518, Otuke 1,918, Oyam 3,020 and Amolatar 954.

“We have not received Amolatar information to date despite request to have it availed to us,” said MP Alyek adding that a section of claimants are threatening to secure a court injunction to stop the compensation process.

MP Okot Bitek, who is the Vice Chairperson of Lango Parliamentary Group said, the number of claimants from Amolatar is too low and there is need for the government to start registering the claimants afresh.

Bito Okino, one of the beneficiaries who was verified said, when she went to the bank to check whether her account was active, she found the account number was not even matching with what she had before.

“I found my account was changed but the system is bearing my photo,” she added.

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Government frustrating free electricity connections – Umeme

UGANDA – Electricity utility company Umeme has faulted the government for the low connections of households under the free connections program.

In March, this year, the government allocated Shs.14.2 billion to fund the household electricity project through the Uganda Electricity Distribution Company Limited (UEDCL).

By March this year, the Rural Electrification Agency had procured more than 90,098 connection materials under the African and Islamic Development Bank with at least 110,687 households expected to be connected in the 1st phase funding.

Umeme expected to connect 87,500 houses majorly focusing outside Kampala, Jinja, and Entebbe districts which would consume about 60,000 meters. While those in the three administrative areas will consume 20,000 meters.

Speaking to our reporter, Celestine Babungi, the Managing Director Umeme Uganda Limited says, they have received 250,000 applicants and have not yet made connections due to lack of funding from the central government.

Babungi says that there’s need for the government to release funding so that the backlog of over 250,000 applications are connected.

https://thecooperator.news/umeme-tasked-on-reliable-high-capacity-electricity-for-acholi-sub-region/

He says on average they receive more than 1000 new applications for free electricity daily, yet they only have 87,500 connection materials which is a ‘drop in the ocean.’

According to Babungi, as a result of the delayed release of funds by the government, they have been left in a tricky position which has seen people illegally connecting to the grid stealing power which poses more life and property threats.

“We are waiting for funding to connect you, and we can’t connect quarter a million customers, that is very significant. We received materials in one batch to connect 87,000 customers, but let’s not forget that we are receiving 1000 applications every day, so we see the 87,000 we have received as a drop in the ocean to clear the 250,000 in the backlog as we receive more applications. And we see the challenge that people are going through to connect themselves to the grid leading to safety incidents, power theft,” explained Babungi.

Babungi says that plans are underway to meet the Natural Resources Committee to plan and ensure funds are allocated in the new financial year so that the connections can continue.

In Gulu City, 13,000 people have applied for the free electricity connection but none has been connected.

Alfred Okwonga, the Gulu City Mayor, in a recent interview says that only 21.7% of Gulu City’s population had been connected to electricity. This he says has left thousands of residents resorting to acquiring solar which only meets the lighting needs and other household needs.

Geofrey Oceng Osborn, the Amuru Resident District Commissioner (RDC) says, most of the town councils in Amuru district are yet to be extensively connected to electricity.

He says as a result, many youths have been left redundant and resorting to petty crimes instead of venturing into projects such as welding among others which would have boosted their financial capacity.

Patricia Alitho, the Head of Communications at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development says, free connections resumed in March this year but with some adjustments which among others include; allowing applicants who can afford payment to do so while those who can’t will have to follow the procedures.

“We initially were not allowing any applicant to pay where you wait for the government but it became impractical, but with the resumption of the policy, we started with the backlog. Because when we resumed in March, there were over 200,000 applicants. So, it can look like the thing is at a standstill because now we need to start with the backlog,” says Alitho.

Alitho says connections are ongoing but with priority to the more than 200,000 pending applicants before other new applicants can benefit.

According to Alitho, the government has taken steps to address the seemingly stagnant and slow connection of Ugandans. She notes that, last month, they received more than 45,000 connection materials from the French Development Agency.

The Electricity Connection Policy was at first implemented in November 2018 before being suspended in December 2020 after the government’s failure to secure funds to pay service providers.

More than 240,000 customers had been connected in the two years despite a target of 300,000 households annually and a long-term ambitious goal of achieving 60% access to grid electricity by 2027. Ugandans’ access to the grid currently stands at around 27%.

Some of the service providers, before the suspension of the programme, were demanding from the government through Rural Electricity Agency (REA) Shs.103.4 billion with Umeme claiming about Shs.84.2 billion of which Shs.42 billion being paid by June this year.

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