Following road carnage along Entebbe road Wednesday morning which claimed the life of city lawyer Raphael Okiot when a concrete mixer truck fell on his new car at Nkumba traffic lights after brake failure, an official at the Ministry of works has said such incidents are bound to continue happening.
Ronald Amanyire, the Principal Road Safety Officer, Ministry of Works and Transport says this is partly because those responsible for planning for this country did not see much sense into SGS motor vehicle inspection project which would have kept road unworthy vehicles like the concrete truck in check.
Below is his justification, read on:
“Without sounding unsympathetic to the concerned families in this crash, more people are going to die today in road crashes in Uganda. No one will talk or post a tweet about them. If the brakes of this truck failed (it seems to be the only logical conclusion), I will once again remind you how almost everyone wanted me castrated because of promoting the
SGS motor vehicle inspection project. The contract and regulations for this project required all commercial vehicles such as this one to be inspected every six months because they are constantly on the road as opposed to private vehicles, which you park, go to your offices or markets and work, then drive home in the evening. This was a project in which GOU had not invested a single shilling. The parliament of Uganda’s Committee of Physical Infrastructure made wild accusations against me, among other Ministry Staff.
The Inspector General of Government investigated me without my knowledge because of this project. Staff within the Ministry works stabbed me in the back, and yet they should have known better.
Even the land was theirs. Inspecting a motor vehicle to determine whether its braking system is functioning according to the required standards has nothing to do with the vehicle’s age. How can the so-called elite in this country oppose periodic motor vehicle inspection when they know it takes place in all countries with good road safety records?
They have travelled to and lived in these countries. Just because a small man like me could help them extort Billions from SGS project, they made me a target of their venom. The Cabinet cancelled the Contract because of this back and forth with Parliament. Since when are contracts scrutinized by the Parliament of Uganda? Their role would have come in after the project had been audited. Instead, they failed it. Now we (Ugandans) are going to pay Shs100bn in compensation.
For those who think Ministry of works did not follow the right procedures, you should know that the adverts for these services were published in September 2009. Evaluation was completed in January 2010. Administrative reviews, among others, were conducted by both the Ministry and
Public Procurement & Disposal of Public Assets Authority (PPDA) in 2010. Despite dismissing the complaints of the petitioner,Public Procurement & Disposal of Public Assets Authority (PPDA) recommended cancellation of the procurement process.
SGS petitioned the High Court. They won.
Public Procurement & Disposal of Public Assets Authority (PPDA) appealed. They withdrew their appeal in 2014.
The Ministry of works conducted due diligence and signed the Contract on 15 March 2015. We are in 2024 so for 13 years, intrigue, inefficiencies and corruption tendencies failed the project. Then the Cabinet cancelled the whole process. MAY THE VICTIMS OF THIS PREVENTABLE CRASH REST IN PEACE.
Ugandans will continue to die just because some people wanted jobs for their incompetent relatives and some wanted bribes for the project to be allowed to continue. While others used the disguise of the inspection fees. What is UGX200k for the life of even one person?
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