The Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, Hon. Joel Ssenyonyi, has stated there may be nothing to point out for the Shs553.71 billion that authorities has progressively sunk in Atiak Sugar Factory, and demanded that it explains the funding within the manufacturing unit that has since failed to interrupt even.
“This is a challenge that excited many individuals, as a result of it sounded good for individuals in northern Uganda and the nation usually. It began so effectively however alongside the way in which there are lots of unanswered questions. The manufacturing unit will not be operational and they aren’t positive when they’ll open and begin to manufacture sugar,” stated Ssenyonyi advised Parliament sitting on Tuesday, 15 October 2024 following his go to to the manufacturing unit positioned in Amuru in Northern Uganda.
The LOP was involved that the manufacturing unit that has not been capable of produce sugar is constantly being funded and questioned authorities’s pursuits.
“Does authorities even have shares within the manufacturing unit? If so what number of? How are we making certain that the funding of tax payers is making returns, nearly yearly there may be request for cash to this entity,” Ssenyonyi stated.
During his go to to Atiak on Monday, 07 October 2024, Ssenyonyi stated he discovered frustrations on the manufacturing unit together with lack of uncooked supplies and others involving authorities’s stake.
“The firm is pissed off as a result of Uganda Development Corporation which is meant to behave on our behalf is absent. They are saying we don’t see them, they don’t have uncooked supplies, they’re wanting in the direction of having all of the equipment for them to truly function,” he stated.
Ssenyonyi proposed that for the sake of the monies already injected within the manufacturing unit, authorities ought to guarantee its performance.
Speaker Among requested the Leader of the Opposition to desk a report on his go to to Atiak, Roko Construction Ltd and Dei Biopharma Ltd for the related ministers to make response.
A 2021 Report of the Committee on Tourism, Trade and Industry about Atiak Sugar Factory indicated that authorities owns 40 p.c of the manufacturing unit based by Horyal Holdings Company Ltd as a private-community partnership.
The manufacturing unit was envisaged to facilitate financial restoration in Northern Uganda by means of creation of jobs for native staff and empowerment of ladies as the primary suppliers of sugarcane within the area.
The report highlighted quite a lot of challenges confronted by the manufacturing unit and the neighborhood, starting from lack of uncooked supplies, the manufacturing unit’s incapacity to plant the required sugarcane on 60,000 acres supplied by the neighborhood and laxity on the facet of UDC, Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development and Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives.
