One of the markets built in Mbale

The public Accounts committee of parliament has faulted the ministry of finance and local government for failure to work on Busega, Nyendo Masaka markets now six years since the 10 million dollar loan for this project was approved. Members of parliament on the committee were querying the ministry of finance officials over none performance of loans.

The members of parliament of this committee chaired by the Soroti district woman mp Angelina Ossege while meeting with officials from the ministry of finance led by the secretary to treasury Keith Muhakanizi discovered that government acquired the loan for the construction of these three markets in 2009 but upto date the markets are not standing. MPs noted that it took the ministry of local government 12 months to process and acquire the land titles for the respective plots of land for these markets and the delay of one year for this project necessitated an extension of the project end date. MPs were also angry that government through the line ministries have been deceiving parliament and donors that land was available for loan projects when the land is not available.

The parliamentarians similarly grilled the ministry officials over delay to begin works on Mutundwe –Entebbe transmission power line when its funds were approved in 2013.

In his response the secretary to treasury Keith Muhakanizi admitted the delay and attributed it to the ministry of local government’s failure to acquire land for this project in time. He also told the committee that absorption for loans has been slow putting a blame on the accounting officers of the line ministries and warns to take action against them. He said that Uganda is among the African countries which is slow for loan absorption at a rate of 12%.

The post PAC faults ministry on market construction failure first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.

Arua Market before start of construction

Arua market vendors are stranded about the failure by government to allocate them a new relocation place as they plan to develop this market into a modern structure. The secretary general of the market authority Innocent Maneno says it is now three years but government has totally failed to allocate them a place yet construction is about to begin..

She further noted the many problems they find in the market ranging from insufficient toilets, no water, low capital, all of which gets worse when it comes to people with disabilities who cannot access toilets among other parts of convenience.

The vendors continue to castigate government for not taking full responsibility of the situation which has seen the vendors turn into refugees of labour.

Arua market is one of the markets under the MATIP programme funded by African development bank with the intension of changing the face value of all major markets in the country. Among the markets already completed under the programme include, Wandegeya, Jinja, Lira, Gulu, Mbale markets among others.

The post Arua market vendors stranded over relocation area first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.