Kiryandongo District leaders have vowed to decline CMD Investments Limited a company which was contracted to construct the 3.36 billion Kigumba seed secondary school on future projects. The leaders cite inconsistency and failure to adhere to the contract terms evidenced during the construction of both Kitwara and Kigumba seed secondary schools by the same contractor.

The leaders made the vow during the site meeting held on January 18,2024 at Kiryandongo District headquarters to discuss the fate of the stalled Kigumba Seed Secondary school. The construction of the 3.36 billion school was launched in May 2023 and expected to be complete by September 2024. However, ever since the launch, the project has been stalled at foundation level which is worrying the leaders.

Edith Aliguma Adyeri the District chairman expressed her concern over delayed completion of the school which will affect the planned opening for term one in 2025. She asked the contractor to cooperate since the District was ready to accord him all the necessary support to ensure the school is complete by end of September 2024. Aliguma further expressed her disappointment in the contractor who she said was imposed on the District by the Ministry. She asked the contractor to declare If he cannot deliver the school so as the District finds an alternative contractor. “If you cannot deliver this work, please declare today and we find alternative means of delivering the construction works. This is the second project you are working on in the District and you have given us hard time. The next time you are imposed on us by the Ministry, we shall decline the project because we are the end users not the Ministry.” Said Aliguma.

Reuben Maanigamukama the town clerk of Kigumba urged the contractor to redeploy adequate man power so as to catch up with the less time remaining to complete the project. “I came here expecting to hear termination of the contract because of the delays caused by the contractor. However, from the discussions I don’t see signs of terminating the contract today. I urge the contractor to redeploy heavily and we feel his presence on site.” said Maanigamukama.

Moses Ssebyala the Director CMD Investments wholesomely took responsibility and apologized for the delay in the completion of construction works at Kigumba seed secondary school. Ssebyala refuted allegations of bribing some District staff which he said was baseless and needed to be disregarded. He added that the delays have been caused by financial constraints which originated from delayed payment for their works at one of government agencies.

Ssebyala also informed the leaders that as a way of recovering from the financial constraints, CMD Investments Limited has engaged HCH Financial Services Limited which will advance the company money to a tune of 550 million to expedite the works. Ssebyala pledged to deploy adequate workers and treat each classroom as an independent unit which will enable the company complete the works in the next four months.

Kigumba seed school is the second school to be constructed in Kiryandongo under the Uganda Intergovernmental Fiscal Transfers Program and is expected to serve a population of over 1000 students from Kigumba town council and the neighbouring villages of Jeeja, Nyama and Kinyara Kigumba sub county.