{UAH} UNRA woman sweats over oil road

UNRA woman sweats over oil road

Written by ALON MWESIGWA & ZAHRA ABIGABA

Last Updated: 27 July 2015

The actual length of the Hoima-Kaiso-Tonya road in the Albertine region is 83km, not the 92km as the public has been made to believe.

The commission investigating corruption in the roads sector, headed by Justice Catherine Bamugemereire, was shocked on Friday when Pamela Ayebale Kemigisha, the land acquisition specialist at Unra, produced a street map, which showed the road started at Hoima and ended at Tonya, a distance of 83km.

Asked why, Kemigisha, who was the project manager, said the "rerouting of the road and other sections were added, [which] increased the distance" although she could not provide evidence. 

"I may need more time to point out [the extra distance]."

On why the rerouting happened, she said they realized that in the first design the road was likely to be "too dangerous for motorists because of the steep slope."

Each kilometer on the Hoima-Kaiso-Tonya road cost government Shs 3.2bn to construct, making it the most costly road in the region. If it happens that the 9km  that could not be accounted for were non-existent, then government lost more than Shs 29bn.

Hoima-Kaiso-Tonya road is estimated to have cost government Shs 314bn. Surprised at the turn of events, Kemigisha remained glued to her chair for a few minutes even after the commission went into break.

"You can never realize things will turn out like this," she exclaimed to herself, before taking a walk around the probe room at Imperial Royale hotel in Kampala.

Meanwhile, it also emerged that the Mapcon Consults, which handled the property valuation and compensation of residents affected by the road works, did not pay taxes on what it earned from UNRA.

As a supplier of services, the firm was expected to pay six per cent withholding tax (Shs 42.3m) from the Shs 705m it was paid for the one-year contract. Instead, the taxes were paid by UNRA using public funds.

"You guys [UNRA] are crazy; do you know [that] you paid taxes for the consultant?" said Mary Kutesa, the assistant lead counsel for the commission.

Kemigisha said: "That was the responsibility of the accounts department. There is no way I could have been aware how the payments were done."

Last Thursday, the commission revealed that Mapcon was the worst bidder among all applicants – scoring just 40 per cent in bid evaluation – yet it went ahead to win the contract.

Justice Bamugemereire said: "Your [Kemigisha] hands are all over the pie."

amwesigwa@observer.ug

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