TANGA: THREE Tanga City Council officers have been suspended for allegedly violating government guidelines in the construction of buildings under the Secondary Education Quality Improvement Programme (SEQUIP) by inflating the costs against the government’s directives and allowing the contracts to be signed.
According to information obtained from the office of the Acting Head of the Government Communications Unit, Musa Laban, the City Director, Said Majaliwa, named the officers as Issa Mchezo, Acting Head in Works and Infrastructure Department, Frederick Lubangulila, Headmaster of Kiomoni Secondary School, and Civil Engineer of the Council, Baraka Noni.
The three City Council officers have been suspended pending an inquiry into the allegations levelled against them.
According to the statement, the officers are accused of inflating the cost for the construction of buildings in the school from 584.2m/- provided by the government to 702m/-, resulting in the inability to construct some of the buildings as planned, such as the building for housing a library, ICT office and toilets.
Director Majaliwa was quoted as saying that the government paid 584.2m/- for the construction of a new secondary school in the Kiomoni wards and provided directions on the costs of each structure.
He noted that the administration building, for example, was supposed to be built at 77.7m/- but the engineer prepared a Bill of Quantity (BOQ) that nearly doubled the cost to 140m/-, and the headmaster and his committee approved and issued a construction contract for that high cost, which was against government guidelines.
He further stated that the government directed that a building housing a Chemistry and Biology laboratory be built for 102m/-. However, the cost was raised to 150m/-, increasing the project’s cost by 118.8m/-.
The City Director reminded all public servants to continue respecting government guidelines when carrying out building projects.
“I will not hesitate to take immediate action against employees who are found to have committed fraud in public projects,” he added.
