Kagina’s Dott Services woes

If there was anything that Allen Kagina had not anticipated when she was appointed the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA), it is that one company, Dott Services, would be too big to bite.

When Kagina was appointed UNRA Executive Director in 2015, she was viewed as the ‘messiah’ that would save Ugandan roads. Prior to this appointment, she had served as the Commissioner General of the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA), where she was rated a five-star performer.

UNRA at the time was in a position where they were suffering reputation problem due bad road works, inflated costs and several corruption related scandals. With her work well cut out, Kagina, together with her UNRA team, started to supervise, audit, fast-track and launch new roads projects across the country.

However, her fight to save UNRA from shoddy contractors has earned her friends and foes in equal measure, with Dott Services featuring highly on the list of her, read UNRA ‘enemies’.

Dott Services enjoyed a good relationship with the old UNRA management. However, this all came crumbling when Kagina took charge of UNRA.

The cracks in the relationship between Dott Services and UNRA were laid bare in early October2016 when the construction company petitioned Parliament protesting what they termed as the ‘Kagina hostility’.

The petition was tabled on the floor of Parliament by Moses Musamba Nagwomu, the Bunyole East MP, in which Dott Services asked Parliament to intervene and have its name cleared from UNRA’s negative smear campaign.

Dott Services argued that despite the fact that it had garnered considerable respect within the construction industry, UNRA had over looked all these positive attributions and continued to deny the company contracts through blackmail and threats.

The petition described Dott Services as the most resourceful company and leading local construction company with established stone quarries and crushing plants in Semutto, Masindi, Kachumbala, Ishaka and Arua.

Among their achievements, Dott Services pointed out employment to Ugandans as well as having a track record of nine completed projects.

The petitioner said the bickering was worsened when UNRA frustrated and accused Dott Services of shoddy works on both the Tororo-Mbale-Soroti and Tirinyi-Mbale, allegations the company noted were deliberate and ill-intended arguing;

“Despite the capacity built over years, we have met unprecedented hostility by top management of UNRA. The Contract for Tororo-Mbale-Soroti and Tirinyi-Mbale were signed when there was pressure on government from the people in the Eastern Uganda,