CONTARCTOR LOCKS CLASSROOMS AT DUFILE SEED SECONADRY SCHOOL IN MOYO DISTRICT, DEMANDS FOR PAYMENT

Photo of a stranded teacher at the school.
 
By Doreen Tasia

Moyo

The contractor of Dufile seed secondary school in Dufile sub county, Moyo district has locked the school’s classrooms and the administration block following government’s failure to pay the amounts accumulated as a result of variation in project.

Students and teachers of the school were left stranded after the classrooms and the administration block were locked, affecting all the activities in the school especially holiday program for the candidate classes.

Mr. Chandiga Geoffrey the contractor says that the district has failed to avail them with the documents which can wave off the taxes that have coasted him about shs 400 million yet the project is a government project that should be tax free. And this was later verified by the technical team but has not been paid.

‘‘Government should clear us. We did install a lightening conductor at the school to ensure the safety of the children, as a contractor, we are demanding a lot of losses that we made here and have written several letters to the district through Chief Administrative Officer, we are demanding 700 million that accumulated in form of the taxes dedicated,” he explained.

One of the students who spoke to the newsroom on condition of anonymity disclosed that since the closure of the classrooms, lessons are being conducted under mango trees. ‘‘This happened probably around Monday, we have not been informed by the administration why the class rooms were locked, but since we came here we found the teachers outside. The doors were locked by the contractor, even the teachers are teaching us under the tree ’’, he narrated 

He also added that it’s not the first time this has happened in the school, referring to another incident in second term which affected the concentration and performance of the learners.

Mr. Ausiime Peter Rogers a teacher at Dufile secondary school stressed that the locking of the classrooms has disorganized a lot of activities in the school especially now that they are preparing for third term reopening calling for intervention from the district leadership. ‘‘we no longer have access to the offices and the classrooms too, which is really perturbing and sometime back the students had wanted to riot over this same contractor and if this whole thing continues, it’s really going to antagonize everything therefore I call upon the stakeholders to act and harmonize the situation,’’ he lamented.

Mr. Williams Anyama the LC 5 chairperson Moyo district pointed that the district has already taken steps and written to the ministry of education to ensure that the payments are made, condemning the actions of the contractor.

‘‘The permanent secretary wrote to the Chief Administrative Officer directing the payment procedure but I must inform you that the payment is a process which is available in the district and as we speak now the processes are ongoing but the contractor became impatient and I want to condemn his actions, he knows his money has been paid and what he is claiming is variations which ministry has written and the PS has approved,” he noted.

He concluded by saying closing a public facility is a criminal action, calling upon everyone to remain calm, as the situation is being settled.

Dufile seed secondary school was constructed under Uganda governmental inter-physical transfer project funded by World Bank in partnership with government of Uganda