Punish culprits of the Local Council bicycles

Sep 19, 2011

FOR the last couple of weeks, there has been sabre rattling between the Local Government ministry and Bank of Uganda over $1.7m (about sh4.7b) that was paid to an Indian firm to supply 70,000 bicycles for LC Chairmen countrywide.

FOR the last couple of weeks, there has been sabre rattling between the Local Government ministry and Bank of Uganda over $1.7m (about sh4.7b) that was paid to an Indian firm to supply 70,000 bicycles for LC Chairmen countrywide.

As it has emerged, the company that won the contract to deliver the bicycles was registered in Uganda only two days to the day it was “awarded” the contract. The explanation given by the ministry is that it was joint venture with Amman Impex of India.

It is surprising how the ministry puts the blame for non-delivery on Bank of Uganda, whom they say was paid sh100m to “verify” the authenticity of documents sent by the Indian firm.

Bank of Uganda on the other hand says despite raising a red flag over several key documents, the ministry dismissed them as “peripheral”, and gave the green light for payment to be made.

Whereas both parties have been roundly criticised by the MPs, the sharp edge of the criticism falls squarely on Local Government ministry, the procuring entity.

It is hypocrisy and simply beats logic to turn around and blame someone else for the non-delivery of what one has paid for.

Where were all the highly paid technocrats in the ministry to verify authenticity of documents for such a huge procurement even if it meant sending a team to India?

How could the ministry fail to detect a “forged bill of lading” that was supposed to indicate that the bicycles were already on ship to Mombasa?

Officials in both the ministry of Local Government, Stanbic Bank and Bank of Uganda who have been mentioned in the probe should be investigated and those found culpable of complicity should be prosecuted.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});