Gulu University Swindles 1.651 Billion Shs for Fish Pond Projects Meant to Benefit 7 Districts in WestNile and 8 Districts in Other Parts of Uganda.
Story by Dramadri Federick, westnilenews.com .
Abundoned 6 in 1 fish cages floating on River Nile in Obongi district By Dramadri Federick
ARUA: Friday, October 11, 2024
At Namsaiya cell, Roma ward in Obongi town council, a water logged area is shrouded in thickets as it straddles the shores of River Nile. It is where one of the 11 fish ponds that were earmarked under Development Response to Displacement Impact Project (DRDIP) was to be constructed.
Five and a-half years on, the would be beneficiaries are still waiting for the Gulu University’s Hoima Campus to deliver on the ecological fishponds that were meant to be a partnership project with the government of Uganda under the auspices of the Office of the Prime Minister.
“One of the fish ponds is supposed to be constructed where that bush is but up to now it has not been constructed. We would now be reaping benefits from this fish ponds,” a resident stated.
The ecological fish ponds were part of the subprojects for which the government received a USD 150million (Sh555bn) grant from the World Bank in 2017.
It was hoped that a successful implementation of the projects would improve services, expand economic opportunities, and enhance environmental management for refugee hosting communities and settlements, and the Strengthen Transparency and Anti-corruption (STAC).
The project was designed to benefit a total of 1,510,759 nationals and 1,250,000 refugees across the 15 refugee hosting districts of Arua, Kyegegwa, Lamwo, Kokoko, Yumbe, Obongi, Moyo, Madi Okollo, Terego, Hoima, Kyradongo, Kamwenge, and Isingiro.
“As OPM and as a country we were blessed with USD 200 million (SH740bn). The first was the USD 50million (Sh185bn) loan which was to facilitate activities and provide livelihood opportunities in the host communities and all of us will pay back, the USD 150 million was a grand from World Bank to finance community driven projects, infrastructure, accountability and environmental restoration,” said Sekajja OPM’s Environment officer in charge of projects.
According to the office of prime minister, different sub-projects under the four components got their share of the USD 150 million. However, the focus of this investigation is on the utilization of the Sh2,365,782,000 by Gulu University’s Hoima Campus.
Background
In 2019, Gulu University’s Hioma Campus, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the office of the Prime Minister to establish ecological fish ponds in 11 refugee hosting districts.
The districts were Arua, Kokoko, Yumbe, Obongi, Moyo, Madi Okollo, Terego, Hoima, Kyradongo, Kamwenge, and Isingiro. The project duration was from 2019 to December 2023 with an additional six-month extension elapsing on 30th June 2024.
Moses Sekajja, the environment officer at the Office of the Prime Minister, insists that they followed all the procedures as the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Act demands for proper execution of such projects.
“We advertised and got so many applications. But we awarded the contract to Gulu University’s Hoima Campus because of their previous wider experience in similar project under Norther Uganda Social Action Fund (NUSAF) where they established fish ponds,” Sekajja insisted.
He did not show any prove of adverts made to call for biding to provide services in the implementation of the ecological fish pond constructions and stocking with quality fingerlings in 11 refugee hosting districts.
Dr. Patricia Achan Okiria the Deputy Inspector General of Government (IGG) observes that the awarding of the project to Gulu University was un-procedural and that Gulu University was not prepared for the Project.
Okiria added that there was suspected connivance in the awarding for the project which is a subject to investigations.
“We noticed that prior to the project signing, Gulu University Hoima Campus had not assessed the project sites for suitability. Secondly, where the communities had offered land for these projects, they later took back their land due to delays in the implementation. You will realize that a number of projects were completed but majority were not while some have not started,” disclosed Dr. Okiria
11 Ghost projects in Obongi District
Obongi district, one of the refugee-hosting local governments in the West Nile region and home to about 52,300 refugees as per November 2023 official statistics by UNHCR, is predominantly known for fishing due to the presence of the River Nile.
The district was approved for 11 fish pond subprojects according to the targeted beneficiaries. But instead of implementing their priority sub-projects of the ecological fish ponds and stocking them with quality fingerlings, the university decided to buy fish cages which they set up on River Nile.
Residents who were not sensitized on cage fish farming promptly rejected and abandoned the cages on the river.
“Our project was fish pond not fish cage. A report was sent to us that we should change to fish cage, my group members refused; I heard that they brought 2,200 fingerlings for the six cages. At least 1,350 have died and more are dying,” Samuel Aluma, chairperson for Indilinga Fish farmers group says.
“We received Sh56,142,692 from DRDIP and transferred Sh24,758,927 to Gulu University’s Hoima Campus account in 2021 but they have not constructed any fish pond,” he added.
According to Aluma, Gulu University’s Hoima Campus had employed a support staff at the fish caging site on River Nile but due to failure to pay his wages the officer fled from the site, reportedly with millions of shillings meant for supplying fish feeds, leading to the continuous mortalities registered among the fingerlings.
Yahaya Okuje, the procurement Chairperson of Ondonga east group in Obongi Town council, recounts that under the NUSAF project, the same Gulu University Hoima Campus constructed fish cages for groups on River Nile and no group got fish out of the project because of shoddy works, a reason the groups have rejected the cages.
He added that lack of access to the cages and knowledge gaps forced groups to reject such offers.
“The fish cage they have constructed in the river, we don’t want it because we don’t have a boat to go there to feed them. If the fish grow up it will be difficult for us to harvest and transport them out for selling. Secondly they have not taught us anything. On top of this Gulu University Hoima Campus is a failure in cage fishing because they swindled our money,” Okuje lamented.
On the other hand Sekajja who supervised the implementing partners under the Environment and Natural resources component admits that the community has a reason to reject the fish cages but hopes that Gulu University may improve from the past mistake.
“The community is right because Gulu University implemented a similar project under NUSAF and the cages didn’t survive,” she said.
Johnson Opigo, the Principal Fisheries Officer of Obongi district acknowledges the fact that community groups under the fish pond subproject transferred over sh620 million to Gulu University Hoima Campus Account. Still, no fish pond was established.
He noted that despite the district’s approval of the establishment of 11fish ponds under the subproject, Gulu University decided to shift to Fish Cages on account of the challenges with soil type which doesn’t not support the sub project.
“It was a terrible mistake that was made by redesigning the projects, otherwise if these projects were implemented by the people who generated them, that would be the best since they know what they were asking for,” Opigo said.
As we dig deeper into what informed the decision to alter community priorities, there appears to be no substantial evidence to support the narratives.
“This claim of saying that the soils in Obongi district do not support fish ponds is a lie. If you go to Ewafa and Aliba sub counties some community groups have dug fish ponds and they are reaping from them. I really want to Appeal to the IGG and State House Anti-corruption Unit to investigate this matter,” Obongi RDC Hashaka Samuel Mpimbaza asserted.
The RDC insisted that there’s a need to demand more explanations about the diversion of funds by the University officials for a project that was not approved by the district.
“Obongi district has 11 ghost Projects under Fish Ponds, when we look at the documents, they were showing clearly that Gulu University Hoima Campus received over sh620 million through the CPMCs [Community Project Management Committees]. We even got Cheaques that were signed and handed over to the university but after they got the money, it was withdrawn but no fish pond was constructed to date when the project year has ended. That means these are ghost projects”
Otim Benson Humphrey, the Obongi district Chief Administrative Officer, blames the OPM for the mess saying that the centratralised system of project management and administration had limited the local government from performing an oversight role during execution.
“How the implementing partners were procured, their level of supervision is questionable, and sometimes as you engage them as an accounting officer on the ground, they look at you that you are not the one who brought them, their allegiance is somewhere.”
According to Dr. Okiria who implements the strengthening transparency and Anti-corruption STAC component of the DRDIP the awarding of the project to Gulu University Hoima Campus was in a rush as due diligence was ignored.
“You will realize that agreements had been entered into between OPM and the university without direct involvement of the local governments. The university had not done any ground work and did not know where they are going to execute the projects,” she charged.
Arua groups cheated
In the Arua district,members of three fish pond subprojects including Ama-otuzu fish farming group, Oyeku fish farming group, and Onyova community fish farming group all in the Ajia sub-county complained of cheating by the university.
The projects were funded at sh52 million each, and a total of sh66 million were transferred to the University accounts two years before the project closed, according to the records accessed from the Desk Officer of the district.
Many share dissatisfaction about the implementation of the project.
“No supervision has been here, the IP [implementing Partner] only came here once,” Alfred Ababo, the Secretary of Onyova community fish project stated.
Meanwhile Alex Anguyo, the chairman for Ama-Otozu group added: “I have been calling and they are not picking up calls.”
University Staff Arrested
In the course of the implementation of the subprojects in Obongi district, the top-notch officials of Gulu University Hoima Campus were arrested in Obongi district on allegations of ghost project implementation and diversion of project funds.
These included the project Administrator, Dr. Primo Adoye, who is also the Senior Assistant Academic Registrar at Gulu University Hoima Campus, Jude Rutabingwa, the site Engineer, and Aquaculture specialist and technical advisor, Ivan Abaho.
“We opened up a case at Obongi Central Police Station and arrested three suspects including Dr. Primo of Gulu University as they implement their fish cage project but to our dismay these guys connived with the police officers and the file went missing and we want this matter investigated,” Obongi RDC expained
Additionally, three more officials including Okuonzi Milad the professional site supervisor among others were arrested in the Arua district as they attempted to present status report on the project implementation at the Chief Administrative officers office.
“These guys came to my office and told me that they were sent by Gulu University and were coming to present status report on the project implementation and when I asked them to identify themselves, they didn’t have any ID [Identification] cards from the university, not even a letter introducing them. I directed the CIDs to further interrogate them and they make statements at Arua district Central Police Station,” Nickolas Ogwang Arua district CAO stated.
On 17th June, 2024, the Arua district CAO wrote to the Head of Industrial Development at Gulu University Hoima Campus sounding a final warning, notifying the University of its failure to comply with terms of MoU [Memorandum of Understanding] for three subprojects works under DRDIP.
“Whereas Office of the Prime Minister identified and engaged your company/Organization to support implementation of DRDIP community subprojects under component 2 specifically for the construction of fish ponds and stoking with quality fingerlings after you signed MoU with OPM. To date you have failed to follow and comply with the terms,” the letter reads in parts.
This therefore is to caution you for over delaying the completion of these subprojects and also bringing to your notice why related charges should not be put on you because of the unnecessary delays, with a view of recovery / refunds already paid to you in its full amounts. Any further delays by 5 days will leave the district with no option but to institute drastic steps to cause you to recover the funds through legal means,” the CAO wrote in the letter.
Despite several warnings by Arua district chief Administrative Officer there was no response from the university.
“I tried calling them including the project Administrator, Dr. Primo Adoye, it reached a point he was not answering my calls even the one of the Desk officer at the district. I think other corruption fighting agencies have to come in to help us in the matter,” Ogwang said.
Accountability Gaps
When we get back to the project design according to the Office of Prime Minister, of the sh2, 365,782,000 meant for 55 fish pond subprojects, Gulu University Hoima Campus as the Implementing Partner takes the lion’s share of 70% totaling sh1, 656,047,400.
Of this money 15% amounting to sh248,407,110 was to cater for facilitation of university staff and training of the groups while the majority of the money tabulated to be 55%, an equivalent of sh1,407,640,290 was for inputs only.
The remaining 30% was spread into three parts where sh638,761,140 was for labor (under the groups), sh35,486,730 for environment and social restoration as well as an equal amount of sh35,486,730 for project management by the community groups.
From the transactional records extracted from the Onyova community fish farming group on 13th August 2024, the group had a duly approved budget of Sh28, 600,000 for a long list of 21 inputs by Gulu University Hoima Campus, out of these only 10 items amounting to Sh3, 239,000 were delivered according to the official delivery note dated 26th September 2023 while additional five inputs that were not on delivery note amounting to Sh6, 228,240 were delivered.
However, items worth Sh17,604,300 were not delivered by the time of project closure. Meanwhile, the same transaction records indicate inflated figures of Sh1,531,000 on nine items delivered at the time of the closure of project implementation by the IP [Implementing Partner].
Ababo regrets having Gulu University Hoima Campus as the implementing partner for this project.
“They were supposed to give us 2,648kg of fish feeds but they only brought 10kgs, we expected them to give us over 1000 catfish and 200 tilapia but they have not brought any, even compactors were brought when we had finished constructing our fish pond. I only saw them [Gulu University officials] during budgeting and the quality of the compactors is not the one we asked for,” Ababo complained
At Ama-otozu fish pond group, items worth Sh19,365,260 were not delivered at the time of project closure. These included fingerlings (both Catfish and Tilapia) of Sh1,150,000, fish feeds of Sh15,415,260, cover nets among others making the pond idle and unutilized. This is from the Sh28,600,000 budget for inputs for the group.
The group records indicate further that only 12 inputs were delivered by Gulu University Hoima campus worth Sh7,703,740 of which two items including 400 tilapia fingerlings and animal fence of Sh4,464,740 were delivered without receipts or off delivery note.
“The inputs that we received were only worth sh3.2 million out of sh23 million. We tried to raise the issues through the district official, they said it is Gulu University and yet these people are not on ground. You cannot put fingerlings without a cover net, even the fencing is a problem,” he complained.
“There is no feed provided, we have not yet done any training as Ama-otozu group, we had to employ somebody whom we paid sh1,000,000 to guide us in digging the pond,” Anguyo lamented.
The DRDIP desk officer in Arua district, John Ezuma, revealed that the working relationship between Gulu University Hoima Campus and the district can best be described as that of a cat and a mouse.
Ezuma said he personally made calls to the University officials, wrote severally mails and engaged in meetings with OPM and the University, but what was agreed in those meetings have never been implemented.
“I think there’s no value for money here, what OPM needs to do is to help the districts recover the community funds and we locally look for service providers to complete these projects because it is like they are playing a Cat and Mouse game with us the districts,” Ezuma reiterated.
Gulu University Hoima Campus and OPM officials last visited the fish ponds in Arua district on the 2nd August 2023 according to the records in the visitors’ book.
The officials who appended their signatures stated reason was to discuss the budget with group members when they were just left with 4 months to the project’s official closure.
Group members say that even when they asked for an extension after December 30th 2023, none of the officials visited the sites. It was until 16th July 2024 when the extra six months granted by OPM had expired that they reported on site to commence fencing.
Gulu University Speaks Out
When contacted for an interview, the project Administrator Dr. Primo Adoye who is also the Senior Assistant Academic Registrar at Gulu University Hoima Campus responded in a text.
“IGG inquiry is on, as well as the lawsuit. Lawyer’s opinion is we stay the story until we get green light at least from IGs office. But at personal level I can give you background of the issues and share you few hints. Officially not yet, please understand us,” Dr. Primo wrote.
On the other hand, Gulu University Vice-Chancellor, Professor George Openjuru, denied any formal agreements were signed between the university’s Hoima Campus and the office of the Prime Minster for the ecological fish pond subproject in the 11 districts.
He insisted that those who signed on behalf of the university should be held accountable.
“We heard about this project through the press that top Gulu University Management members were arrested and when we made inquiries, we realized it involved Hoima campus. As far as we are concerned, we did not enter any formal agreement/ contract with the Office of the Prime Minister as Gulu University because all our contracts are signed by the vice Chancellor or the University Secretary including those in our mini Campuses,” Openjuru stated.
“We are aware that the matter has taken a new twist, I would not like to make too many statements but as a University we shall take disciplinary measures on our staff involved in the matter accordingly,” the Vice Chancellor Added
Civil Society Sounds Warning on Procurements
Julius Mukunda, the Executive Director Civil Society Budget Advocacy Group (CSBAG), explained that there’s a high appetite for money in Uganda, a reason that defines the rush in procurement processes especially at the Office of the Prime Minister.
“35% of the projects that are being implemented in Uganda do not have concepts and 35% do not have project profiles, as a result the implementing partners do not actually know what they are doing, they only go for the projects because they need the money,” Mukanda revealed.
OPM distances from Mess in Project Implementation
Meanwhile, at the OPM, Sekajja who supervised all the 19 implementing partners distanced himself from the challenges of the University, noting that OPM cannot take responsibility for the mess.
“Gulu University have their own problem, the nature of their engagement was not effective as they didn’t engage districts. They have challenges of high staff turnover and this equally affected us in tracking progress, we are on our way to the recovery of the project funds. And our position as OPM is that we want the moneys recovered,” Sekajja emphasized.
Whereas Dr. Patricia Achan Okiria, the Deputy Inspector General of Government, confirmed that they have launched an inquiry into the matter to ensure full accountability for the projects.
“Basically the projects kind of aborted, now it is upon Gulu University to give us full accountability. If they have been paid money and they have not implemented they refund the money,” Dr. Okiria said.
Julius Mukunda, the Executive Director Civil Society Budget Advocacy Group (CSBAG), rallies Central government to recognize total decentralization of government programs and projects, first track digitalization of procurement processes to minimize corruption tendencies and embrace transparency at all levels.
“We must mean decentralization the way it is and execute it the way it is supposed to be so that local governments can account for the projects that are been implemented at their levels. One thing for us to improve on value for money is that we need to go digital, all procurements must be digitalized for transparency and building of public trust,” Mukunda recommended.
This investigation established that the Office of the Prime Minister provided no evidence of any public advertisements to attract potential organizations for competitive bidding for the project.
The contract agreement was signed between OPM and Gulu University without local governments who are the direct supervisors and beneficiaries of the projects.
There was no prove of groundwork done by the university before signing the MoU, no evidence of training beneficiaries meaning the 15% of the project cost amounting to sh248,407,110 meant for training and facilitation was eaten without work done including part of the sh1,407,640,290 for inputs that were not fully delivered plus inflated figures.
Story Source: https://westnilenews.com/2024/10/11/gulu-university-fails-to-account-for-sh1-651bn-for-55-fish-ponds-after-five-years/
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