Atiak sugar: Another bottomless pit? Or Shs700b in, no sugar

[Eronda]

Atiak Sugar, a significant public-private initiative once hailed by President Museveni as “a useful growth stimulus” for the people of Acholi and surrounding regions, has come under sharp criticism from legislators and economists, who have labelled it “a bottomless pit.”

The criticism stems from the more than Shs710 billion in taxpayers’ money that the government has invested in the factory without any sugar production to show for it.

Economic experts yesterday warned the government against continued investment in Atiak Sugar Factory, saying the project risks consuming taxpayers’ money without yielding results.

Civil Society Budget Advocacy Group (CSBAG) executive director Julius Mukunda warned that public funds would continue to be wasted until government accepts that the project was flawed from the start.

“For the last five to six years, we have been investing money in the Atiak Sugar factory, but nothing has come out of there. This is the project that needs to be abandoned, and this funding channelled to other functioning projects,” he said.

Mr Mukunda was reacting after Parliament on May 5 allocated an additional Shs37.9 billion to the sugar factory as part of the controversial Shs1.15 trillion supplementary budget passed amid protests from legislators.

“We are not against the government providing subsidies, but the question is, what are we investing in? The Atiak Sugar factory has shown us that it is a project that can't take off. Why continue wasting taxpayers’ money? We should stop and invest in other things,” he added.

Leader of Opposition Joel Ssenyonyi, during debate on the supplementary budget, warned that Parliament risked becoming “a conduit to approve funds that facilitate idle projects that have failed to take off.”

“It is a factory I visited with colleagues, and there has been no sugar coming out of there for the last couple of years, but every year we keep appropriating money. Help me understand, who is this Atiak person that we have got to keep giving them money?” he said.

Mr Ssenyonyi added: “…on an annual basis, that now it even has to come through supplementary, that it is an emergency. To the taxpayers who are watching us, we could be seen as conduits of fraud. Fraud is when you are paid for a service and you don't deliver it. You have given Shs668 billion so far to Atiak, no sugar is coming out of there, and you want to add that money. For what?”

Since 2020, government has invested more than Shs706 billion in the factory.
Source: Daily Monitor