The chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on National Economy, John Bosco Ikojo, has stressed the need for establishing the physical and financial performance of funded projects and to find how far the projects are moving as far as reflection of value for money is concerned.
Ikojo, who is the Bukedea County MP, has raised the concern while chairing the opening meeting of the committee, at the beginning of the two-day monitoring and evaluation of the performance of the government funded projects in Buvuma district, which include, the National Oil Palm Project (NOPP), a seed school, health and water facilities. The meeting has been held at Buvuma Palm Resort in Buvuma Town Council on Wednesday.
He said his team is in the islands to look at, in addition to the palm oil project, implementation and consumption of seed schools, community access roads opened following introduction of the project in the district, water and health facilities and associated facilities.
Welcoming committee members, Buvuma Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Hajji Issa Mbooge said their visit is timely given that next month, the first harvest of the palm oil plants is taking place which he added has given islanders a fresh hope of getting an additional income on their pockets.
Mbooge said that although in the beginning there were some negative sentiments about the palm oil project, today benefits have seen to be bigger than the negatives, with communities seeing a ray hope for change for the better in their lives.
The Buvuma District Woman MP, Susan Mugabi Nakaziba has been happy to note that Buvuma islands have been a recipient of many funded projects, and appreciated the committee’s visit, saying it will give a new motivation to the projects.
The Committee Vice Chairman and Buvuma County MP, Robert Migadde Ndugwa pointed out that right from the 9th parliament, the district has benefited from a lot of the committee’s projects, and cited acquisition of a modern ferry in replacement of the old one which almost put people’s lives at risk.
“At one of the visits of this particular committee’s visit to Buvuma while using the old ferry, it got a mechanical problem and the members swore never to come back to Buvuma. Fortunately, on our way to Buvuma yesterday, I saw the committee chair taking pictures and selfies on the ferry, meaning he was enjoying the moments during the transit,” he said.
Migadde thanked the district implementation team for a work well done, adding that all projects are moving on a clock work manner, save for the compensation issue which has not been conclusively ironed out.
Giving an outline of the palm project, the District Project Co-ordinator Wilson Sserunjogi reported that since take off of the USD 75.8 project on 1st March 2019, new benefits like construction and rehabilitation of roads for easy movement of usables.
The team later visited communities to have an on-the-spot touch of funded projects.