SIRONKO: Gov’t Shs100M Milk Cooler Lies Idle 3 Years after Construction

By Weswa Ronnie

SIRONKO

A case of misplaced priorities has surfaced in Sironko district where Buhugu Milk Cooler in Mutufu Town Council constructed at a cost of Shs100M lies idle three years after construction.

This was revealed during the Inspection Tour of Government Projects by the Minister in the President’s Office, in charge of Economic Monitoring, Beatrice Akori Akello on Tuesday, 26^th November, 2024 in Sironko district.

Akello was briefed by the Sironko District Production Officer, Charles Patrick Okore that the Milk Cooler has stayed for over three years idle because farmers are not taking their milk to the Plant as required.

He added that since the government put there the machine, it’s idle as no farmer has ever bothered to take their milk because people living in the area are not cattle keepers.

In response, the Minister who was prompted to visit the Milk Cooler Plant advised the district leadership to write to the central government requesting it to allocate the machine to another place and replace it with another agricultural machine of area farmers’ choice.

She suggested that the Milk Cooler can be taken to cattle keeping regions like Karamoja or Western Uganda where cattle are kept in big numbers.

Haruna Masaba and Sunday Wetaka, area residents from Mutufu Town Council say that they want government to swap the milk cooler with poultry hatchery machine since people from the area deal in poultry mainly.

They say that the machine was just brought in the area by the district without proper consultation of locals which has costed both government and area locals.

Livingstone Giluli, the LCV chairperson of Namisindwa district has welcomed the Minister’s idea saying since the machine has been idle and yet other people in the country need it, its better they swap it with another agricultural machine which will benefit the community members.