Gov’t faulted over roads, hospital pledges

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Parliament Committee on Government Assurance has faulted Government over its failure to fulfill pledges on roads and hospital construction.

According to the Report of the Parliamentary committee on Government Assurances, although Government pledged to work on several roads in the country since 2011, it had totally failed to construct the roads, while in several cases the works on the road are partially done.

The report authored by the Committee chairperson Kaps Hassan Fungaroo notes that Government undertook to construct several roads and bridges in the districts they visited. He said they however found out that 15 out of the 19 (84%) of the roads and bridges that government promised to construct, had not been done.

The committee concludes in its report that the undertakings had been broken by Government as only 2 were being worked on, while only one had been partially completed.

Some of the affected roads in over 20 districts are; the construction of Kalaki – Lwala Road in Kaberamaido which was pledged in 2010 and expected to get done in 2015 and not yet started to date. Construction of Soroti – Serere Road Soroti which was pledged in 2011 and expected to be completed in 2016, rehabilitation of the the Kitanga –Kisharira-Nyabushenyi Road in Ntungamo which has taken five years.

Others are the pledges to construct Atiak – Moyo – Afoji Road, in Moyo district which has taken up to 9 year,  Construction of Muhanga-Rukungiri -Kisizi Road in Rukiga pledged in 2011 among others.

The committee also faults Government for its failure to construct three new hospitals of Maracha, Buyende and Kumi that it has pledged since 2016.

“Government undertook to construct 3 new Hospitals and rehabilitate four. The Committee found out all the 3 new hospitals pledged to be constructed in the districts of Maracha, Buyende and Kumi had not been done,” the committee report noted.

The rehabilitation of Iganga and Apach Hospitals were however reported by the committee to have been rehabilitated to satisfaction, while Itojo and Kiryandongo Hospitals were rehabilitated but not satisfactorily.

With regard to provision of ferries to ease transport of people and goods across various water bodies, government promised to provide a ferry for Okile – Bukungu, Kaberamaido district, in 2011 and Rhino Camp – Amuru, Arua district, in 2010, but both ferries had not been provided, more than 7 years since the promise was made.

The committee also faulted Government for failure to upgrade some airports as promised. Soroti flying School which was meant to be upgraded to an International Airport, and Arua Airfield to an International Airport, in 2010 but they were not upgraded.

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URN