Authorities halt road works over suspected fraud

Authorities in Luweero Town Council, Luweero District have suspended works on one of the roads over suspected fraud.

According to authorities the length of Walusimbi Road in Mabale Village, Kiwogozi Parish was allegedly doubled by the technocrats.

They say the road measures 0.7kms but the work schedule handed to the engineering team is for works measuring 1.7kms at a cost of Shs47.9m.

Construction of the road commenced last Thursday and on Tuesday, a team from the town council visited the site and discovered the irregularities.

In an interview with the Monitor on Tuesday, Mr Chris Buwembo, the Luweero Town Council chairperson, said while the residents need the services, the town council executive have taken a “painful” decision to tentatively halt the works to pave way for a forensic investigation to find out why the technical team doubled the road length on paper.

“We moved with a team of the executive and took the measurements. The road length is 0.7kms that would cost half the Shs47.9m that will be given to the contractor. We need a good explanation for the extra kilometre that is reflected on the work schedule,” he said.

“It is unfortunate that the technical people handed us the work schedule after the contractor commenced the works on the same road. We had to act very fast and arrest the situation. We need a good explanation for the extra ghost kilometre,” he added.

The works to be carried out on the road include bush clearing, grading, graveling, culverts installation, swamp raising and headwalls, according to a summary of the planned works on the road, which Daily Monitor has seen. The scope of the works is to improve the road to a motorable condition.

The road is among the different roads supposed to be worked on under the road fund for the financial year 2022/2023 under the 3rd quarter. The government is funding the project.

Mr Luke Obong, referred Daily Monitor to his top managers for a comment since he is not authorised to talk to the media.

Efforts to get a comment from the Town Clerk, Ms Irene Nakamate, were futile as her known telephone number was out of reach.

However, the Luweero District LC5 Chairperson Mr Erusto Kibirango in an interview with this paper, said: “It is strange but I appeal to the different lower local governments to ensure that service delivery takes priority. The town council is autonomous but is part of Luweero District.”

[email protected]