By Michael Atwakiire
Sheema: Cabinet Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs Prof. Ephraim Kamuntu, who is also Sheema South Member of Parliament (MP), has finally saved the lives of pupils who study from Shuuku Primary School, in Shuuku Town Council, Sheema District, after lobbying for them Shs153M from government to help rehabilitate the dilapidated classroom blocks.
Our reporter in the area reveal that this primary school that has since gone to the dogs educated several people in Sheema District, who currently have big offices in government and others own private companies but have never contributed a coin to rehabilitate it.
Currently, the entire school, which is government-aided, is in a very sorry state, with buildings built out of mud and wattle, some classrooms have no roof after it was blown away by the storm, others don’t have windows and doors, iron sheets are supported by logs, plus sharing of toilets between pupils and teachers.
While handing over equipment to help in rehabilitation of the school, Prof. Kamuntu said after hearing the public outcry, he lobbied for Shs153M from the Bank of Uganda Emergency Fund to atleast construct four classroom blocks. He said that the government of Uganda responded positively and sent Shs153M to the School’s account. He however, asked parents to volunteer as casual labourers so as to reduce the cost of construction.
“If we utilise this money properly, we can get surplus funds to build toilets for pupils and teachers, plus teachers’ houses. Therefore I ask you parents to volunteer as casual labourers such that we save the money we would be spending on casual works for other works.
I’m telling you that the money we will remain with shall be used to build other structures like toilets and houses for teachers,” Kamuntu said.
He added that “The contractor should first sit with the district team led by the Resident District Commissioner (RDC) Frank Kyereere, CAO Beyeza Dembe and others to agree on some principals like who should supply the building materials at the normal price, if a bag of cement is Shs30,000, he should supply it at the exact amount not Shs35,000 or 40,000. ”
Mayor Shuuku Town Council Boaz Biziira said that because of the deadly structures that are bound to fall any time, they had advised pupils and teachers to always leave the classrooms whenever it starts raining and gather in one room of a Semi-permanent building until the rain stops.
