Masaka city being investigated over cracking multi-million toilet

The water borne toilet at the Masaka Liberation Square in Nyendo/ Mukungwe Municipality is reported to have developed cracks barely a month after it was commissioned.

A group of State House officials inspected the facility at the weekend in the company of Ms. Beatrice Akello, the state minister for Economic Monitoring.

“There is visible evidence of no value for money on that facility and the State House Anti-Corruption Unit has started investigations into how Shs48m was utilized.”

The minister said the facility is not worth Shs48m which the city authorities claim to have spent on the project.

The minister has, since last week, pitched camp in Masaka with the State House team to monitor various government projects in the sub-region.

When asked to explain how the defects emerged, Ms. Sarah Nandawula, the Nyendo–Mukungwe Municipality clerk, referred the investigation team to the city engineer, Mr. Augustus Turibarungi.

However, Mr. Turibarungi declined to comment on the project.

He said the toilet is always closed and residents rarely use it.

“It [toilet] is only opened when there is a function at the Liberation Square but on other days, it is closed and there is no attendant,” he said.

Currently, Masaka City has nine public toilets. Some of the toilets are located in taxi parks while others are on the streets.

Many of the toilets were erected before Uganda attained her independence in 1962 and are in a sorry state.