The Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) has temporarily put the distribution of iron sheets on hold to allow an investigation into the reported theft and diversions of iron sheets meant for vulnerable communities in Karamoja sub-region.
“Currently, the distribution of iron sheets has been temporarily halted due to the ongoing investigations following reports of theft of some iron sheets,” an OPM statement reads.
The OPM confirmed in the statement released a few days ago that the distribution shall resume as soon as the investigating agencies have concluded the exercise.
Through the affirmative action programmes of Karamoja, Teso, Northern Uganda, Luwero Triangle, Bunyoro, and the department of disaster preparedness, the office of the prime minister under the department of Karamoja affairs obtained supplementary funding to support the peace and disarmament exercise in Karamoja sub-region, and part of the funds under the supplementary budget were spent to procure iron sheets.
According to OPM, the iron sheets were for supporting the livelihoods of vulnerable people and social infrastructure in disadvantaged communities.
OPM also clarified the quantities of the iron sheets that were procured during the financial year 2021/22 as follows:
According to the OPM, a total of 95,658 was procured for Karamoja, 25,514 was released, and 71,144 is the balance in the store; 19,170 was procured for Northern Uganda, 14,647 was released, and 4,523 remained; 4,982 was procured for Teso, 2,086 was released, and 2,896 iron sheets are still in the store.
For the cases of Bunyoro and Luwero triangles, 9,274 and 6,956 iron sheets were procured and released, respectively.