In a detailed letter addressed to President Yoweri Museveni, a concerned contractor by the name of Sajabbi Ronald has shed light on serious operational challenges within the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA), pinpointing inefficiencies linked to the office of the Executive Director Allen Kagina.
In a letter seen by Watchdog Uganda, the contractor, who has been engaged in various infrastructure projects, expressed frustration over what he described as “systemic sabotage” of the president’s directives by internal UNRA processes, particularly those involving a junior engineer hired to review high-level documents.
“Your Excellency, I write to you in respect of over five directives you have issued to UNRA since the year began. There is a big problem with the operations of UNRA, mainly in the Executive Director’s office,” the letter began, highlighting that while UNRA’s departments work swiftly to execute and submit projects, the bottleneck occurs when these documents are forwarded to a junior engineer, Mrs Rebecca Natukunda, for review.
The contractor pointed out the oddity of assigning such a crucial task to someone with a junior position, particularly when the work has already been handled by senior engineers.
“The departments sit as a team, come out with a framework, and generate documents for the smooth running of the projects. Over 10 senior engineers’ documents are reviewed by one junior engineer,” the contractor explained, expressing deep frustration that projects approved by highly qualified experts were still subject to delays caused by a single junior staff member.
More troubling, the contractor alleged that Mrs. Natukunda has been using her position to stall documents indefinitely unless contractors engage with her personally, which, they hinted, has created opportunities for bribery. “This is complete sabotage of your work said Natukunda Rebecca. She holds all your directives in UNRA, and she does not work on them… if contractors don’t personally look for Mrs. Rebecca Natukunda to negotiate, then she cannot release the documents.”
The letter warned that this culture of stalling and “negotiation” is fostering a fertile ground for corruption within UNRA. The contractor raised the critical question: “Why should contractors bribe civil servants to work on your directives?” He further noted that delays create opportunities for financial exploitation, with contractors being forced to pay extra money just to keep projects moving forward. “Any government delays create room for bribery, leading to poor work since more money will have been paid in bribes,” the letter continued.
The contractor also expressed concern that even the directives of Minister for Works and Transport, Gen. Katumba Wamala, are being ignored by certain factions within UNRA, undermining his authority. “The Minister for Works and Transport is not respected; wherever he directs something on UNRA, this has left many projects almost dead,” the letter stated, illustrating how this internal dysfunction was crippling infrastructure projects that are vital for national development.
“General Wamala works and follows up on your directives by even reaching out to all entities involved to determine how far the processes are,” the contractor noted, adding that despite the minister’s best efforts, little progress is being made due to the bureaucratic roadblocks within UNRA.
Meanwhile, Mr Sajabbi Ronald the contractor urged President Museveni to step in urgently and enforce reforms to streamline UNRA’s operations, suggesting that the ongoing merger of relevant entities should be fast-tracked to prevent further inefficiencies.
“This is, therefore, to request your Excellency to speed up the merger process of such entities and also to mark those who disrespect your orders not to join mainstream service,” the letter urged, adding that individuals defiant of presidential orders should be barred from continuing in public service.
Meanwhile, the contractor’s passionate plea reflects growing frustrations among those in the construction and infrastructure sector, who are concerned that vital national projects may fail if internal inefficiencies within UNRA are not addressed.
Now the spotlight shifts to see how President Museveni will respond, with hopes that his intervention will bring much-needed reforms to improve transparency, accountability, and the timely execution of critical infrastructure projects.
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