Road grader worth Sh18 million grounded in Butula

The Sh18 million road grader grounded near the office of Butula Deputy County Commissioner on September 5, 2019. [Ignatius Odanga/Standard]

Blamegames have emerged over a multimillion-shilling road grader grounded in Butula constituency.

The machine was acquired in 2007 by then Butula MP Christine Mango at Sh18 million. It is rotting at the Butula AP line.

According to Mango, the grader was to be used in rehabilitation of roads in the constituency at an affordable cost.

The money that would be generated by the grader was to be used in buying tractors to plough residents' farms.

A committee was formed by Mango to be in charge of the grader. But she lost her seat in the 2007 polls.

The former MP said the purchase of the grader contributed to her loss.

“The residents were furious that I used public funds to buy the grader and vowed to vote me out,” said Mango.

She regrets that the machine meant to fast-track the repair of roads has been grounded.

After Mango, Butula has had three MPs, including Alfred Odhiambo, Michael Onyura and the current Joseph Oyula.

Odhiambo served between 2007-13 and was succeeded by Onyura who represented locals in Parliament from 2013-17.

On Thursday, residents petitioned investigative agencies to investigate MPs who served after Mango.

The residents want to know why the grader was grounded and the money it generated before it stalled.

Hillary Mainga, Eveline Ouma and Hezron Odongo said there was a need to inform the public on what happened.

Mainga warned that the current leadership should not take a portion of the CDF kitty to repair the grader before a thorough investigation.

He wants members of the committee constituted to take care of the grader to shed light on the issue.

Reached for comment, Oyula said: “When I assumed the office the grader was not functioning".

He said it is impossible to use CDF money to repair the grader.

Onyura said the idea of buying the grader was good but the machine was not economical.

He added that he inherited the grader when it was in bad condition. “We used the grader a bit but it kept breaking down frequently and repair was expensive. Spare parts sometimes could not be found in the country,” he said.

“No single cent was in the account of the grader when I checked in the office."

Odhiambo who took over from Mango could not be reached for comment as calls went unanswered, neither did he respond to text messages.