By Robert Adiga and Charles Anguma
Members of Parliaments have discovered a rot in a multi-billion project meant to benefit community members in Zombo district.
The Silk farming project being implemented by Tropical Institute of Development Initiative TRIDI in Patek, Omoyo and Atiak sitting on 49 acres of land is aimed at producing purely Ugandan silk and wine from mulberry.
The project received part of the sh743b from the Ministry of Science and Technology 2018-2019 budget from the Presidential Innovation Fund for commercialization of sericulture technology and innovation for wealth creation in 24 districts across the country.
However, MPs on the Presidential affairs committee who visited the project on November 10 were shocked to discover that no work was done on two research gardens in Atiak and Omoyo, five years after the commencement of the project. The garden in Patek had few traces of mulberry.
Committee chairperson Onekalit Denis Amere says the project has been messed up.
He says, there is need for serious follow-up on the project lest the government risk losing tax payers’ money on failed projects.
Rose Obiga, the Woman MP for Terego was also shocked to discover that several part of the project guidelines were breached.
“There is no factory for production of wine and silk, no district, community or local leader was involved in the project, while a sample presented by the officials of the company during a site visit in Zombo district were allegedly not manufactured in Uganda,” Said Obiga.
The MPs questioned where the sample was produced as there was no marking on the two 3-little bottles presented before stakeholders.
The legislators on the committee said there is no value for money seen so far in the project.
Recently, the Parliamentary Committee on Science, Technology, and Innovations (STI) presented a report highlighting the challenges faced by the sericulture project under TRIDI’s management.
But Dr. Clet Masiga, the Executive director of the embattled TRIDI blames the community members for failing the project.
The district chairperson Zombo James Oruna Uyullu said it is his first time to hear about the project in the district since the leadership was not involved in the implementation.
He appealed to the TRIDI to engage local leaders if they are to realize the project objective of job creation in the community.
The project originated from financial support by President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni through the Innovation Fund, marking it as the first of 17 innovation fund projects to produce a commercial product.
“Usilk” is the first commercial product to emerge from this initiative and is the only project among the 17 to have successfully entered European and Asian markets.
The sericulture project involves a comprehensive process that begins with cultivating mulberry plants and feeding their leaves to silkworms. The resulting cocoons are harvested to extract silk thread, which is then used to create silk yarn.
Recently, the Tropical Institute of Development Innovations (TRIDI), one of the most practical Agriculture institutions in Uganda has blamed the Ministry of Science, Technology & Innovation (MoSTI) for the wastage and economic losses of investment into TRIDI Sericulture project due to its alleged failure to meet its obligations in the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).
