Obongi, Uganda – The Resident District Commissioner (RDC) of Obongi, Mr. Samuel Mpimbaza Hashaka, has halted the commissioning ceremony of a over 400 million shillings solar-powered tap water project in Kali parish, Itula sub-county, Obongi district.
Arrangements for the commissioning ceremony had been finalized and the program was set to begin when a group of over 50 workers arrived to disrupt the proceedings.
They claimed they had not been paid for their work on the project.
The workers alleged that the contractor, BIK, had misled them and failed to fulfill his financial obligations.
They expressed concern that the commissioning would proceed, enabling the contractor to disappear without paying them their dues.
RDC Obongi Samuel Mpimbaza Hashaka and the Secretary for Works, Hon. Azubu Michael, listened to the workers’ grievances and confirmed that the contractor owed them over 13 million shillings.
In a related development, when the RDC contacted the BIK contractor, he stated that he was at Stanbic Bank in Gulu and promised to pay the workers within one hour.
However, after two hours, our reporter confirmed that the money had not been disbursed.
Consequently, a decision was made to postpone the commissioning ceremony until the contractor pays the workers their outstanding wages.
