SGS faulted for violating terms of contract

Aug 23, 2017

Mandatory vehicle inspection is currently only in Kampala

Had the supervising entity of the Ministry of Works done its job, Société Générale de Surveillance (SGS) contract would have been terminated.

MP Denis Sabiiti, the then commissioner in the Ministry of Works who handled the contract said failure to establish the inspection centres countrywide within the agreed 18 months after signing the contract should have been the basis for termination of the contract.

"Unfortunately, they kicked off the inspection before establishing centres countrywide. I don't know even why the company was given the security bond before they fulfilled all the terms of the contract," Sabiiti said.

"Failure to fulfil the contract terms should have been the basis for termination if the supervising agency was doing their work," he added.

Apart from Kawanda, the company is expected to build other centres in Nabbingo, Namulanda, Namanve and other areas.

Sabiiti was appearing before the physical infrastructure committee of Parliament on Wednesday to answer allegations of influencing the award of the contract to SGS which was procured to carry out the mandatory vehicle inspection. The Inspection is currently only in Kampala.

As former commissioner and also chairperson of the contracts committee in the Ministry of Works, Sabiiti was accused of preparing a concept paper to management to approve the privatization of the inspection of vehicles which was approved, the capability report on prequalified firms to management which concluded that one firm should be listed and that under his watch, the Ministry used wrong bid documents which later led to the cancellation of the contract.

Sabiiti was also accused of chairing a bidding committee meeting that locked out the participation of other local companies and that he also colluded with Ferdinand Bitanihirwe, former SGS country manager in communication emails.

He however denied the allegations saying that whatever he did was either authorized by the permanent secretary or according to the PPDA regulations.

"There was nothing wrong with the procurement process. The only problem I see is with the management of the contract," he said.

The committee agreed to summon other witness to explain the matter.

The Ministry of Works had issued a deadline for vehicle inspection but Parliament postponed the date until further investigations is done on the operations of the company.

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