Teso North MP Oku Kaunya has issued 14 days ultimatum to contractors in the constituency with stall and shoddy projects to complete the works within two weeks or face legal action.
He put the contractors on notice that those failing to deliver the projects with the two weeks ultimatum will be sued for violating the contracts terms and face the full force of the law in court.
Speaking at Moding High school while commissioning a 3.5million school library, Kaunya noted that all the stall projects in the constituency must be completed within two weeks failure to which the Teso North NG-CDF office will take legal action against such contractors as he will push for such contractors to be blacklisted for any projects in future.
He warned contractors who consistently underperformed or failed to deliver on time that they faced blacklisting and disqualification from future government projects.
“Those types of contractors will be blacklisted and will be barred from taking up government projects in the future,” said Kaunya.
The legislator noted that this inefficiency not only undermined the government’s commitment to timely service delivery but also violated public trust.
“We are not going to allow a situation where the government has made payments and yet the contractors cannot meet their obligations in terms of delivery within the stipulated timelines,” He added.
NG-CDF Teso North issued over 50 projects including classrooms and other social amenities but upon inspection by the office this week only 5 classrooms were ready for use by learners yet schools received the allocation for projects on time.
His sentiments come amid the constituency RRI program on the school infrastructures in effort to meet the three pathways for grade 10 learners early next year.
Kaunya warned school principals against colluding with contractors to interfere with projects thus causing most schools to have poor infrastructures depriving Teso learners a competitive advantage.
“We have notorious school heads who collude with contractors to increase prices of the materials in an attempt to get something in return at expense of the quality of the project,” he noted.
“As Teso North CDF office, we are going to come up with a policy framework — perhaps restricting the number of projects within a given jurisdiction that a contractor can bid for at the same time — so that we don’t have these inordinate delays occasioned by lack of capacity on the side of contractors,” Kaunya added.
The legislator however urged parents to support the smooth running of institutions by paying school fees. Kaunya single out schools like Moding High school where parents have fees arrears amounting to 7.5 million.
“As much as we parents want results, it’s also irresponsible for you to abandon your responsibilities. How do you expect a school like this to run with fees arrears of over 7 million?” Kaunya asked.
The sentiments were echoed by ACK Katakwa diocese bishop John Okude who slammed parents for not being supportive.
“Education is like a triangle where parents, teachers and learners are the main subjects and the three must support each other for the success of any project,” said Bishop Okude.
KUPPET SG Busia Moffart Okisai urged teachers to elevate the status of education in the county and shy away from daily blame games.
“As teachers, we must make the best use of the resources we have to mold these learners to the products we want them to be, we must refrain from the fear of competing with other counties for quality graders,” said Okisai.
By Absalom Namwalo
