Joseph Ayolo, Moroto –The patience of the two neighboring communities, the Pokot of Amudat and Matheniko of Moroto, seems to have run out following the failure of the Ministry of Agriculture to construct a multibillion-shilling water dam worth Shs 14 billion.
The dam, which was proposed to be located in the Nakonyen grazing area between Moroto and Amudat, has hit a snag after engineers from the Ministry of Agriculture did site clearing and even started constructing the dam. However, due to poor workmanship, the dam was swept away by rainwater.
Since the rain destroyed the dam, no official from the Ministry of Water has visited the site in five months.
Losia Lobongo, one of the pastoralists, said despite the Ministry of Agriculture engineers destroying their homesteads to pave the way for the dam construction, their expectation to have water from the dam for their animals has been met with failure due to poor workmanship.
“We should be allowed to meet the president and express our sadness to the Ministry of Agriculture. This is too much corruption,” he said.
Mudong Kinei, another pastoralist, suspects that the Ministry of Agriculture was under pressure to spend money before the financial year ended.
“Why must government officials take us for granted? Why use us as their eating plate?” he asked.
This publication visited the site and found that indeed there is no value for money in the site and no sign of any worker present.
Peter Losigiria, a secretary LC1 Nakonyen, said the Ministry of Agriculture should accept that they do not have trained engineers to do the work.
“Initially, we were told it was the Ministry of Water and Environment that was supposed to do the work at this site, and I even participated in the site location, but I was surprised that another team came to work here and failed us like this,” he said.
According to Mr. Losigiria, meeting the president would be the only alternative so that they can raise their concerns face to face.
One official from Moroto District, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the issues, said the Ministry of Agriculture engineers were not advisable and were doing their work without supervision.
This publication learned that apart from this site, there’s also another site in Kosike that the Ministry of Agriculture has failed to complete, while the completed Kaicom dam is also on the verge of being washed away.
Mr. Paul Lokol, the Nabilatuk District Chairperson, said the government should be honest while implementing development projects in Karamoja.
Several attempts to get a comment from the Ministry of Agriculture failed, as none of them could pick up our repeated calls.
