Contentious: 3 Weeks to End of Financial Year, Maracha District Changes Another Contractor to Complete Kololo Seed Secondary School Construction Project.
Maracha District.
6-June-2025.
KEY ISSUES:
●Kololo Public Seed SS construction project at the tune of Shs 1.9 billion, whose 12-month contract period was awarded to ACHORU United Traders Ltd, was launched in the 2018 / 2019 financial year.
●On 14-6-2022, five Maracha District officials were arrested over Abuse of Office and Mismanagement of Government funds stemming from the project.
●On 19-9-2022, the Five district officials were interdicted, and later in April 2023, they were reinstated to office after serving 6 6-month interdiction period.
●In 2024, upon a thorough evaluation, assessment, and termination of ACHORU United Traders Ltd company's contract in that project, the Government sent additional money, Shs 950M, to Maracha District to complete the project, bringing the total money spent on the same project to 2.8 billion Ugandan Shillings ( 760,476 USD).
●On Monday, 7-April-2025, a meeting was held between all the stakeholders (District officials, the Contractor, and the School SMCs / Teachers),, and in the meeting, all the stakeholders resolved and agreed to have the project completed and commissioned within 45 days (8-April to 25-May-2025).
●Ever since the launch of the project in 2019, site meetings have taken place only three times within 7 years.
Reliable information has revealed that Maracha District officials have made a shocking move to bring in another Contractor, Asante Engineering Company Ltd, to finish the remaining works at the Kololo Seed Construction Project.
The 1.9 billion Shs Kololo Seed Secondary School construction project whose 12 months contract period awarded to ACHORU United Traders Ltd in 2019, was marred with corruption allegations, shoddy and stalled works which led to arrest of Five Maracha District officials on Tuesday 14-6-2022, namely; Mr Candia Stephen (CFO), Mr Ezati Timothy Maluma (Acting District Engineer), Ms Flavia Osoa (DEO), Mr Abiribale T Paul (Internal Auditor) and Mr Oneti William (Senior Assistant Engineer) who were interdicted later on 19-9-2022 over Abuse of office and Mismanagement of public funds but they were reinstated back to office in April 2023 after serving 6 months interdiction period.
As Maracha District continues to play a ping-pong game over the Kololo Public Seed Secondary School project which has cost a total of Shs 2.8 Billion ( 760,476 USD), it should be noted that, Uganda Intergovernmental Fiscal Transfers (UGIFT) projects in Uganda are coming to an end on 30-June-2025.
The source revealed that the new contractor, Asante Engineering Company Ltd, was taken to the site yesterday, 5 June 2025, to begin the work for completion of the project.
Apparently, the overdelayed Kololo Seed Secondary School construction project has been done by three different contractors: the First Contractor ACHORU UNITED TRADERS LTD company, ROBECH ENGINEERING SOLUTIONS LTD company, and now the third contractor ASANTE ENGINEERING COMPANY Ltd.
This suspicious and abrupt decision by the District comes at a time when ROBECH Engineering Solutions Ltd which took over the work in October 2024, had promised to complete it in December 2024, only to be entangled in allegations of delayed release of funds by the district to the contractor, something that angered the Youths in Tara Sub-county to go for a massive demonstration by chasing away Maracha District officials from a site meeting at the school on 3-Feb-2025.
It's yet unclear why the district, which has been in the spotlight over corruption allegations, has decided to change another Contractor at a critical time when the financial year is not only ending but also the projects under Uganda Intergovernmental Fiscal Transfers (UGIFT) in Uganda are ending by 30 June 2025.
Stay tuned as we shall be bringing for you more details and information regarding this new development in Kololo Seed Secondary School.
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