Administrators of Dufile seed secondary school call for completion of stalled multi billion project.

By Inyakuni Kennedy

Moyo

St. John Dufile seed secondary school that started in 2011 as a community school before it was later handed over to government in 2021 where Government injected over 2.1 billion shillings to develop infrastructural facilities like classroom blocks, computer lab, science laboratory, multi-purpose hall and staff houses among others, there is concern over value for money as some of the facilities have remained unfinished despite the engagement of the office of inspectorate of government (IG). It’s now more than One month since the IG office was involved, there is no sign of hope to complete the project.

According to Mr. Okudi Edward the head teacher of the school, the construction works of  administration block, information communication technology (ICT) lab, multi-purpose hall, science laboratory, two classroom blocks, three blocks of teachers accommodation, that started in 2019 to date have not been finished despite the pressure from the community. “It was supposed to be completed in 2020 but up to date when you check around, the structures are not yet complete. Furniture, computers and laboratory equipment have not been supplied and we have demanded for these because the learners are available and their number is growing each time”, Mr. Okudi said.

He was further quoted as saying; “we are appealing to government to rescue the situation because several people from the district, ministries including the inspectorate of government (IG) have been here but nothing has changed. Sometimes we feel we are being disturbed by people visiting the place in the name of helping situation, we wrote to the district and ministry of finance to date no positive response has reached us, so we don’t know exactly where the problem is”.

St. John Dufile seed secondary school has an enrolment of four hundred five students both ‘O’ and ‘A’ level with fifteen teachers on government payroll who are facing challenges of accommodation after the contractor locked the houses for teachers, multipurpose hall, ICT lab because the contractor was not fully paid by the district including administration block but they forcefully found their way to use it though it’s also not complete.

MR. Vuziga Simon, the deputy head teacher Dufile secondary school

Mr. Vuziga Simon, the deputy head teacher of the school says the contract was awarded to Achoru traders’ company limited as a sole contractor of the project but after having constructed two incomplete classroom blocks, the project was abandoned. He said after several engagements with Achoru Traders Company, the district had to sub contract another contractor. “For the project to reach up to 85%, it was the second contractor that worked tirelessly. Last year we applied for center number as a government aided secondary school which was given with the help of the district but the hall was locked which forced us to conduct our UNEB examinations in the staff room,” Mr. Vuziga lamented.

He equally applied to the relevant authorities to investigate and take actions on those who might have mismanaged the project since the distance of the nearest school which is Laropi SS from Dufile SS is about sixteen kilometer.

But according to Mr. Michael Mali, the Moyo district education officer, the contractor had issues with the environment, especially after floods that cut off the road to the school making it hard to transport materials to the site coupled with covid-19 lock down.

The said contractor was given UGX 490 Million as advances which has a bearing impact on the project. He adds that letters have been written to solicitor general ministry of justice in order to give ways for the district to retrieve the money from equity and use it for the completion of the project. “The district through Chief Administrative Officer has also again written to permanent secretary seeking for advice for termination of the contract, Once terminated a contract will be got to finish the project”, Mr. Mali noted.

According to the administration of the school, the plight of over 403 learners has remained unclear as to when the locked rooms including staff houses will be put on to use and when the unfinished blocks will be completed as there is no positive sign from the leadership of the district.
 
COVER PHOTO: One of the incomplet classroom block without door By Inyakuni Kennedy