The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, Ramathan Ggoobi, has written to Health and Education ministries as well as all local government accounting officers requesting them to urgently handover construction projects to the National Enterprise Corporation (NEC) and the Uganda Peoples Defense Forces (UPDF) Engineering Brigade.
On July 1, 2021, President Yoweri Museveni instructed the said ministries to “utilize the services of the UPDF Engineering Brigade for construction of projects in the respective programmes in Education and Health.
The President is also said to have provided additional clarity on the matter in a communication dated November 1, 2021.
Following up on the President’s directive, Ggoobi, in a letter dated November 17, 2021 wrote: “You are urgently requested to hand over this category of projects to the National Enterprise Corporation and Uganda Peoples Defense Forces Engineering Brigade by 26th of November 2021 to facilitate implementation.” These are for projects financed 100% by the Government of Uganda.
For projects financed by Development Partners, Ggoobi says: “The procurement of these projects in 2021/22 should immediately commence. The procurement should be done in line with procurement arrangements stipulated in the respective Financing Agreements and the Programme Operational Manuals.”
“..This arrangement only applies to on-going Development Financed projects in Education and Health,” Ggoobi clarified.
According to Ggoobi, projects with already on-going contracts should continue to be executed using the existing agreements. The same, Ggoobi says applies to projects funded by Development Partners and Government of Uganda.