District water engineer in trouble for diverting community water borehole
KIKUUBE – The Kikuube district water engineer Hillary Agondeze is in trouble for allegedly diverting water sources for the community of Rugwano village in Kinogozi parish Buhimba sub-county Kikuube.
In the last financial year, Kikuube district council allocated funds to construct a borehole in Rugwano village at a cost of Shs27million.
However, during the implementation of the council resolution, the Kikuube district waters department headed by the district water engineer Agondeze, diverted and constructed the borehole inside Canaan Primary School located in another village Nyakabonge.
Kikuube district Councillor for Buhimba sub-county Ruth Kobusinge, who was part of the interim council which approved the water sources told the council that it was surprising that the residents were still sharing water with animals yet the council had allocated them fund s for the water source.
She noted that a borehole was constructed inside the school and the community is not allowed to access the water sources.
Kobusinge demanded to know the criteria that were used to shift the water source from the area it was located.
The district speaker Chris Nkalu ordered Samuel Mugazi Principal assistant Chief Administrative Officer [CAO] to clarify on the matter but told the council that the water engineer was in the right position to respond.
Since the water engineer Agondeze, was not in the council, the issue was referred to the works and water committee for more investigation.
Speaking to our reporter, the Chairperson for works and water committee Suzan Kabasind said, her committee visited Canaan Primary School and confirmed that a borehole had been constructed inside the enclosed school.
She noted that even the community in Nyakabonge village are not benefiting from the borehole since the school does not allow people to enter the school anyhow.
We have been receiving several complaints from the community questioning as to why the district borehole was constructed in a private institution.
She noted during the interaction with the school management, they agreed that the school improvises and gets away of pumping water from the borehole outside community. She added that the school was also asked to repair a community borehole which is outside the school so that the resident can get water. However, she was surprised the school had not implemented the resolution they agreed on and this has continued to subject the residents to suffering.
But the residents of Rugwano village explains that the recommendations of the works and water committee are not a remedy to their water shortage challenges since Canaan Primary School where their borehole was established is in another village far from Rugwano.
When contacted for a comment on his known phone, the Kikuube district water engineer Hillary Agondeze said, the borehole was diverted after they searched for waters in the area and failed to get water in the vicinity.
“Where the borehole was constructed is where the water was found” Agondeze said.
Isingoma Benon for Rugwano village rubbished the claims of Engineer Agondeze that they searched and failed to get water in his area.
He noted that the water engineer and his team have never been in his village to search for water adding that his claims are baseless and demanded the district Chairman Peter Banura investigates the water engineer.
“I need the water engineer to come and tell the truth if I have ever moved with him around my village and we failed to get water, my village has water, let the engineer not fool us, he has never stepped in my area ” he said.
He noted his village has suffered with the problem of water shortage for a decade adding that his people are currently sharing water with wild animals such as baboons and foxes from a man made well located in Rugwano swamp
Isingoma noted that his village has more than 300 residents fetching water from the swamp adding that the challenge of water is affecting children and women.
He noted that for more than 10 years they have been demanding leaders to provide them with water even when it was still Hoima district in vain.
He noted that it was shocking when they got the information that the water sources which the district had allocated to them had been constructed in Canaan Primary School which is a private institution.
Emmanuel Byakora, one of the residents sharing water with animals from Rugwano swamp said, their village has been neglected adding that they demanded the government to give them water in vain.
He noted residents who are energetic trek for over five kilometres to fetch water for drinking from protected water sources found in Kibingo village. He noted that residents face a risk of contracting diseases caused by dirty water such as cholera, Typhoid and diarrhea among others.
He further noted that diversion of their borehole to another area was bad news to residents and demanded the government to get a solution to solve the problem of water shortage faced by the area since the mistake made by the engineer is irreversible.
Leonard Kyoomya the headteacher for Canaan Primary School said, the school management received the borehole as a donation to the schools. He noted the school has never requested for water from the district adding that the school had their own borehole.
He told our reporter who visited the school on 14th of March that the water engineer and his team approached the school and told them the district was going to construct a borehole to the school and the school accepted because they thought it was a donation.
“We thought the borehole was a donation, am just hearing this from you that the borehole which we allowed in our school has issues”
Kyoomya admitted that the school management does not allow the community in the school to fetch water on the borehole for the safety of the learners. He noted that with the challenge of COVID19, it would be dangerous and risky to the health of the learners to allow them to share the borehole with the community.
Kyoomya also admitted that the district works and water committee visited the school and recommended the school to improvise and pump water outside the school to the community or repair the community borehole.
He noted that this recommendation has not been implemented because it is very expensive and the school has no money since it was not in their budget.
Peter Banura, the Kikuube district chairman, wondered how the district Engineer constructed a borehole meant for the community inside the private school without a memorandum of understanding with the district.
He promised that his office is going to hire a private surveyor to go in Rugwano village to ascertain if there is no water in the entire village as the district engineer claimed.
Banura explained that he was not in council which allocated Rugwano a borehole but he vowed to follow up on the matter to ascertain if the district Engineer went against the council decision.
“If we find that he [district Engineer] diverted the borehole without council blessing, we shall discipline him to serve as an example to other district technical staff to avoid such acts of abuse of office” he said adding that the district is going to look for funds to see that they give water to the people of Rugwano.
Vicente Opio the district vice Chairman promised that the district is going to carry out an investigation to ascertain the person who shifted the water source to another place without council resolution.
In case of relocating or charging any project approved by the council, it is a resolution by the council to allow relocation but not an idea of an individual; we are going to follow it up and if we find that it was relocated illegally the person who did it will be punished,” Opio said.
https://thecooperator.news/kikuube-district-receives-shs1-billion-supplementary-budget-support/
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