Otuke Residents Reject Poor Quality Goats
OTUKE – Residents of Olilim sub-county, Otuke district have rejected goats delivered to them under the Development Discretionary Equalization Grant (DDEG). The move to give out the goats to the beneficiaries hit a deadlock after residents labelled the development, a systematic approach to swindle government money.
In the last financial year, Otuke District Local Government (DLG) signed an agreement with Alfonse Line Limited to deliver 62 goats valued at Shs 150,000 each. However, on Thursday the beneficiaries declined to receive the goats saying they are of poor quality and sickly.
Some of the angry beneficiaries argued that the goats are too young and sickly to survive under their care. They argue that the supplier was given money to purchase reasonably grown goats instead of really young ones.
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Okwir Dyegi, a resident of Got- Ojwang parish says that the goats have no value for money. He claims that each goat could have been purchased at Shs 25,000 and not Shs 150,000 as indicated in the contract.
“Olilim sub-county had budgeted for each goat to be bought at Shs 150,000 but this man brought goats which I am sure, he bought at Shs 25,000 each,” Okwir a Lira based businessman suspected.
“We suggested to him that since he brought small goats, he should give each person an additional Shs 50,000 but he refused. He told us to watch out after 5 years he will be having many goats out of these and we told him to go with the animals.” he adds.
Francis Otyam, the LCIII Chairperson of Olilim Sub County says that the supplier will only receive his payment upon delivering good breeds.
“I and my local people refused to receive the goats because they are very small. We budgeted for big goats which would cost at least Shs 150,000 but I do not think what the supplier brought are more than 4 months old and for that reason, I blame the District Veterinary Officer (DVO) for recommending poor quality breeds for the community.
“How do they expect the community to look after these animals? So, I told the contractor to take the animals back and only deliver when he has good quality. The good news is that his money is still in the sub county’s general fund account and we shall have an emergency meeting to inform the sub-county chief not to pay him.”
But Francis Okello, the supplier says that they failed to purchase quality goats due to the closure of livestock market. The project under DDGF was estimated to cost Shs 93, 000,000 million. DDEG is a revolving program targeting the poor and unemployed youth. It focuses on agriculture and the projects invested are income-generating projects like farming, poultry and value addition.
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