The construction of Kololo Public Seed Secondary School in Maracha District has resumed.
In April 2019, Maracha District awarded Achoru United Traders Limited the contract to construct the school located in Tara sub-county at a cost of 1.9 Billion Shillings with funding from the World Bank under the intergovernmental fiscal transfer(UgIFT) program and was supposed to take 12 months.
However, the project stalled in 2021 after some whistleblowers petitioned the Inspectorate of Government (IGG) and the State House Anti-Corruption Unit to investigate Timothy Malumah Ezati, the Acting District Engineer/Water Officer, Stephen Candia, the Chief Finance Officer, Flavia Osoa, the District Education Officer, Paul Abiribale, the District Internal Auditor, and William Oneti, the Senior Assistant Engineering officer over allegations of mismanaging the funds.
Subsequently, the affected staff were interdicted by Paul Walakira the former Chief Administrative Officer on September 19, 2022, on the directive of the Inspectorate of Government IGG. But their interdiction was later lifted by the district service commission in April this year.
The district leadership has now handed over the site back to Achoru United Traders Limited to complete the unfinished work.
Patrick Olila, the Chief Administrative Officer explains that they have over 200 million Shillings in retention fees to resume the construction, and another additional fund is expected from the central government. Olila further decried the ill motives of those who reported the mismanagement allegations to IGG saying the project would have now been completed.
George Yiki, the head teacher of the school commended the resumption of the works noting that the uncompleted works forced them to operate in dilapidated structures due to the high enrolment of learners. He further appealed to the relevant stakeholders to forget the past and join hands to ensure the project is completed.
However, Yassin Buga Matata warned the contractor against any further delay of the project and ensured it was completed within the stipulated time.
The uncompleted works at Kololo Public Seed Secondary School included two classroom blocks, a two-unit science laboratory block, an administration block, three staff house units for teachers, and four stance latrine blocks. Others were five stance VIP latrine blocks for boys, five stance VIP latrine blocks for Girls, Rain water harvesting tanks, an ICT and Library block, and a football ground.
According to the district officials, the works are expected to be completed in a period of three months.
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