Ugandan PS denies using Sh15m to transport govt documents over 41km
Ms Geraldine Ssali, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, refuted reports that her Ministry used UGX 400 million (Sh15.25 million) to transport government documents over an average distance of about 41.1 kilometers.
PS Ssali refuted these claims after Ugandan media reported that registry documents had been transported from Farmers House located on Parliamentary Avenue in Kampala all the way to Entebbe.
Via the Kampala- Entebbe Expressway, the transporter would have taken 49 minutes over a distance of 36.4 km while on the Kampala-Northern Bypass Highway and Kampala-Entebbe Expressway; the same transporter would have also taken 49 minutes over a distance of 45.8km.
“My attention is drawn to the media reports following an interaction between the Ministry of Trade, Uganda, officials and the Parliamentary Committee on Trade, Industry and Tourism. The Ministry takes all concerns seriously and is committed to providing the right information to government bodies and to keeping them updated on developments at the Ministry.
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On the issue of transporting registry documents from Farmers House to Entebbe. I would like to clarify that contrary to the exaggerated figure of Shs400m, the actual cost incurred by the Ministry was (UGX) 59.3m (Sh 2,260,172.85). This includes various expenses such as disassembling furniture, packaging materials, and hiring cargo tracks, labour and fuel,” clarified PS Ssali.
According to Ugandan media reports, the registry documents were being transported to a new location to renovate the Farmers’ House. Her statement, however, failed to appease Ugandans, who had varying reactions to her clarification.
“Thank you, Madam Geraldine, but 59.3m move me to speed. Like how, 59.3m for a distance of of not more that 50km?????,” asked Jeff Atkins Winston.
“But regardless 59 is also exaggerated. Which procurement procedure did you follow to appoint whoever did the exercise and the cost?” asked Matt Matia.
“Transporting a 20 feet container of coffee worth Ugx 250M costs roughly Ugx 5.5M 4rm K’la to Mombasa. The cost includes transportation, clearing & handover to the shipping line. The trade ministry used Ugx 59.3M to Transport docs & furniture 4rm K’la to Entebbe ?🤔,” asked Warren Mwesigwa.
A whistleblower also informed the Parliamentary Committee on Trade that the costs of renovations of Farmers’ House had also been exaggerated from UGX 3.1 billion to UGX 6.2 billion.