Minister Ogwang demands audit into ongoing works at Jinja district headquarters

Jinja, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Minister of State for Economic Monitoring, Peter Ogwang has demanded for a special audit into the ongoing construction works at the new Jinja district headquarter premises located in Buwenge town council.

While inspecting the different government infrastructural projects in Jinja district on Wednesday, Ogwang made it clear that although there are ongoing construction works at the premises, a special audit should be constituted to ascertain whether the funds so far released are worth the structures on site.

Construction works of the 14 billion Shillings Jinja district headquarters were flagged off in 2019. The contractor has so far received 3.5 billion Shillings, which has been spent on the foundation works and shaping up the structure.

Ogwang says that only specialists in civil works can independently conduct feasible studies and viable value for money audits to ensure proper management of funds allocated for the construction of government sponsored infrastructural projects. He also directed police detectives to start investigations into the matter since several whistleblowers and local leaders alike have complained about misappropriation of funds at the Jinja district headquarters construction site.

He also expressed discontent stressing that there is misappropriation of funds at the ongoing facelift of Buwenge general hospital. Ogwang argues that the 480 million Shillings allocated for the refurbishment works of the facility’s antenatal and maternal care units, is equally enough for the construction of a new up to date maternity unit at the hospital, since the old structures were already substandard.

Meanwhile, Jinja district’s L.C.5 chairperson, Moses Batwala says that responsible agencies should ensure frequent inspection of the different government projects as a means of fighting corruption within the different local government departments.

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