Leaders in Bukomansimbi town council have rejected school desks due to poor quality and exaggerated costs.
The 135 desks worth 35 million shillings that were meant for 16 primary schools were delivered to Bukomansimbi town council, but the leaders halted their distribution to the targeted government schools in the area.
Mauricia Birabwa, the Vice-Chairperson for Bukomansimbi Town who was supposed to officially hand over the desks complained that they were visibly made of poor quality wood that could hardly last for one school term.
She also says that they had not been availed with proper accountability of the funds spent on the furniture. Birabwa adds that none of the technical officers was present at the handover to respond to the queries raised.
According to Birabwa, it has become a habit for the town council technical officers to deliberately dodge providing accountability on public expenditures in the area.
Peter Luberenga and Margret Nandawula, both councilors representing Bukomansimbi Ward and Kagologolo parish respectively indicated that some of the desks are too old to serve the intended purposes.
According to them, unlike the ordinary classroom school desks that are typically made of hard timber, the rejected desks were made of softwood most likely from tree barks that cannot last for a long period.
They want Swaib Katongole, the Town Clerk to return the desks to the furniture workshop and refund the money spent on them.
Samuel Bahane, the Bukomansimbi Town council Finance Officer who is accused of sanctioning the procurement of the desks declined to comment about the matter when contacted. He instead referred us to the Town Clerk, who was however out of the office and had his phones unavailable.