Uganda Parliament probes multi billion Tochi irrigation scheme serving only 52 of 1,200 intended farmers in Oyam According to MP Otuku.
BY OKIDI PATRICK
Kampala, Uganda – Uganda’s Parliament has launched an investigation into a multi-billion government irrigation project in northern Uganda that was meant to transform the lives of more than a thousand farmers but is now serving only a fraction of them.
The petition, generated by residents of Acaba Sub-county in Oyam District, centres on the Tochi Irrigation Scheme – a project into which the Ugandan government invested an estimated 45 billion Ugandan shillings, about $12 million.
The scheme was established in 2016 and officially launched by H.E. President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni on September 4, 2018, with the stated aims of boosting rural livelihoods, strengthening food security and helping communities adapt to climate change through modern irrigation.
Nearly seven years later, beneficiaries say the promise has not been met.
According to the petition tabled before Parliament, by vibrant Oyam North MP Hon.Dr. Eunice Apio Otuku, only 52 farmers out of a targeted 1,200 are currently benefiting from the scheme, leaving hundreds of smallholders excluded from the infrastructure built in their name.
Allegations of corruption and neglect:
The petition, presented by Oyam North MP Hon Dr Eunice Apio Otuko under Rule 31 of Parliament’s Rules of Procedure, details a pattern of alleged mismanagement.
Farmers accuse scheme officials of extortion, diversion of resources and suspected coordinated corruption. They also report that expensive solar-powered pumping equipment lies idle, while farmers have received little or no training in how to operate and maintain the irrigation technology.
“Despite repeated appeals to the Oyam District Local Government and the Ministry of Water and Environment, no meaningful intervention has been made,” Dr Otuko told the 12 Parliament.
The 12-page document was signed by 25 local leaders and farmers, including former Oyam South MP Issa Otto Amiza and Oyam District Chairperson Nelson Adea Akar.
Parliament Speaker Oboth- Oboth ordered inquiry:
Speaker of Parliament Rt. Hon Oboth Oboth referred the petition to the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture, giving it 30 days to investigate the use of funds, the performance of the project and its management, and to report back to the House.
For Hon MP Dr Eunice Otuko, who has emerged as a vocal advocate for accountability in northern Uganda, the case is about more than one scheme.
“What was meant to be a flagship project for agricultural transformation in Oyam District and the wider Lango sub-region has instead become a symbol of wasted public investment,” she said.
The petitioners are now calling for a full audit of the scheme’s finances and urgent reforms to ensure the project serves the farming communities it was intended to uplift.
Others even want Minister of Local Government Hon Balam Ateenyi to arrest implicated suspected corrupt elements behind the loots in the Tochi Irrigation scheme.
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