One of the redundant value addition facility in Nwoya district. Photos by Arnest Tumwesige
By: Arnest Tumwesige
Gulu: The Public Service and Local Government committee is pushing for the operationalization of redundant value-addition machines across the country.
From 2007 to 2017, the government of Uganda utilized about USD200m loan from the African Development Bank to implement the Community Agricultural Infrastructure Improvement Program (CAIIP).
The funds released in three phases were used to construct roads, markets, and agro-processing facilities, which include storage houses, maize mills, rice and coffee haulers, and milk coolers.
The respective districts were to receive the facilities once installed and work with farmer groups or cooperatives to ensure optimal use. However, Martin Ojara Mapenduzi, the chairperson of the Parliamentary Public Service and Local Government committee told GNNA that in some areas, the facilities were installed with missing parts, while others were not installed at all.
Mapenduzi noted that of the 279 value facilities, only 80 are functional. The legislator wondered how the government paid contractors 100% of their contract sum yet some never completed the work.
OWC research report triggers action
In March this year, Gen. Caleb Akandwanaho also known as Salim Saleh the Commander of Operation Wealth Creation (OWC) shared a report with the committee that Mapenduzi revealed a bigger issue.
The report was written by a team of researchers under OWC, who went to Amuru and Nwoya districts for a fact-finding mission on how the facilities were operating.
Only nine of the 27 facilities are functional. In GNNA’s independent fact-finding mission, some of the stores have become stores of beverage companies, nursery schools, and rentals for accommodation.
This was very visible in the sub-counties of Pabbo and Lamogi in Amuru district; Koch Goma, Anaka, and Alero in Nwoya district.
“As a committee, we picked interest from the study report and then we discovered that the problem was much bigger with Amuru and Nwoya. If OWC had not brought this to light, that is just a total waste of public funds. I can tell you, some people should be in jail. You cannot spend several billions and you just leave the machines to rot there for 10 years,” Mapenduzi noted.
Early unyielding efforts
Five years ago, the Ministry of Local Government (MoLG) signed a working agreement with the Uganda Cooperative Alliance. In the agreement, Alliance was supposed to work with farmer cooperatives to better their functionality.
However, the Uganda Cooperative Alliance, which falls under the Ministry of Trade, could not do much since MoLG had not yet fully handed over the facilities.
As a result, the Parliamentary committee decided to engage the Ministry of Trade which directly handles value addition, thus forming a tripartite engagement.
Mapenduzi noted from monitoring, that there are so many storage facilities and machinery constructed by NGOs but lying idle. He wondered why the respective local governments were not owning the facilities and working with citizens to utilize them.
Pushing for action
Mapenduzi said the MoLG, which was responsible for overseeing the establishment of the project needs to answer before the committee on how the facilities were constructed with such irregularities.
So far, the committee is negotiating with the parliamentary budget committee to prioritize allocating shs3b to the MoLG and an additional equal amount to the Ministry of Trade.
The respective districts will receive funding through the line Ministry and Ministry of Trade and ensure that the component of value addition is strengthened effective next financial year 2024/2025.
The committee conducting monitoring some of the 279 facilities will later present a report on the floor of parliament before June 20th.
The Committee will also present a report on the functionality of the 12 modern markets constructed under Market and Agricultural Trade Improvement Program and supervised by the MoLG.
Self-Initiatives
Meanwhile, in Nwoya district, the authorities are already planning to enter into Public-Private Partnership agreements with potential entrepreneurs on how to utilize the facilities.
A separate research report seen by GNNA and approved by Jenifer Nantume Egunyu, the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) indicates that there are 36 storage facilities with a storage capacity of 4,230 metric tons in Nwoya.
The biggest problem identified is lack of access to the electricity main grid, while those that have access to the main grid are not connected and dysfunctional generators.
Existing cooperatives benefit members
The only facility found to be functional is Nwoya Cassava and Rice Growers Storage facility with up-to-date records
The facility is one of the farmer groups that is benefiting its members after receiving a tractor from National Agricultural Advisory Services through the district a few years ago.
The cooperative which has about 120 members is located in Bwobonam ‘B’ village, Bwobonam Parish in Alero sub-county.
The group received a storage facility in 2020 with value addition machines under the Agriculture Cluster Development Project (ACDP).
Bosco Lunyon, the supervisor told GNNA that as a primary society, they are affiliated to West Acholi Cooperative Union and other partners like the district.
With each member having an average of 3-4 acres, ploughing an acre is at shs 80,000.
This is in addition to receiving planting seeds for rice and maize from the Union at a subsidized cost and paying later.
Lunyon advised local governments to start sensitizing the local people surrounding those storage facilities so that they can own them for effective utilization or else they will continue being idle.
However, due to lack of transport means, 30 members have dropped out of the cooperative society, as they prefer selling their produce from their locality instead of taking it to the main storage center.
