Minister Ogwang orders arrest of Buliisa CAO for 'constructing borehole for shs173m'

The minister for Economic Monitoring in the Office of the President, Peter Ogwang, has ordered the arrest of the Buliisa Chief Administrative Officer, Simon Bimbona and three others over a borehole project that was never realized.

The minister  who is in Buliisa on a fact finding mission was shocked when he found that what was indicated in the district performance reports was not reflected on the ground.

For example, he found out that whereas in the district performance report, the CAO had indicated that six boreholes  in various sub-counties had been constructed to a tune of shs173 million , on the actual ground, only one borehole could be seen whereas two other boreholes had malfunctioned after just one month.

In simple terms, only one borehole could be shown for the shs173 million for the entire project.

Asked to show where the boreholes indicated in the report were, the district engineer, Maurice Wakame became elusive prompting the minister to take action.

Consequently,  district CAO, Simon Bimbona, Chief Finance Officer Arthur Kibaretende, district internal auditor William Mpagi and engineer Maurice Wakame were apprehended and handed to Buliisa DPC John Mwaule for custody.

Speaking about the arrest, Minister Ogwang said the four district officials attempted to fool him as he asked for the whereabouts of the project.

"President Museveni is not the problem. These civil servants are the problem. The people of Buliisa have a challenge of access to clean and safe water but unfortunately, our civil servants receive the funds and swindle them with impunity. We are going to deal with such officers and ensure they are prosecuted," Ogwang said.

The minister who is  inspecting  the implementation of 2020/2021 government projects in Kiryandongo, Masindi, Hoima, Buliisa, Kagadi, Kakumiro and Kikuube districts of Bunyoro sub-region was escorted by Bunyoro Affairs minister Jeniffer  Namuyangu and on arrival at the Buliisa district headquarters at 8am, no official had arrived.

The minister had to wait for more than an hour for the district officials who arrived later at 9:30am for the meeting.

Among other things noted by Minister Ogwang during his fact finding visit were the shoddy construction works and the Village Health Team Covid-19 funds that were swindled.

The minister was told that whereas each VHT was supposed to receive shs150,000, they ended up getting only shs100,000.