Car dealers under their umbrella association have asked Parliament to immediately terminate a contract awarded to Societe General du Surveillance (SGS) to inspect cars, if it is established the contract award flouted public procurement procedures.
Through the Uganda Motor Industry Association (UMIA), the group that comprised of Spear Motors proprietor Gordon Wavamuno, Victoria Motors director Sam Kibuka and UMIA lawyer Chris Bwanika, said SGS was given the contract without any competitive bidding, and asked the MPs to take tough action against the company, in case of any breach.
In March 2015, the Swiss firm signed a contract with government to carry out routine vehicle inspection aimed at ensuring those in poor mechanical condition are taken off the road in order reduce accidents.
However, recently, queries were raised as to how SGS was awarded the contract, a development which led to the parliamentary probe into the circumstances surrounding the issuance of the contract.
The UMIA team argued that giving the vehicle inspection contract to the Swiss firm without competition undermined government’s position to give preferential treatment to local companies before considering foreign firms.
Further, the group said that their respective companies had the capacity to create more vehicle inspection service stations than those of SGS “without subjecting Ugandans to inconveniences they are suffering at the hands of SGS.”
According to UMIA, SGS has established two vehicle inspection service stations in Kawanda and Nabbingo, and that even plans to construct seven more stations will not help the Swiss firm get the desired presence across the country.
Additionally, the team also challenged the way the mandatory vehicle inspection exercise of cars that are more than one year old is being managed, in total disregard of manufacturer’s warranties. This, they argued, raises contractual issues after SGS interferes with such vehicles.
Earlier, the Committee grilled the former Commissioner in charge of Transport Inspection and Regulation Eng. Denis Sabiiti over his role in awarding a contract to SGS.
The MPs put Sabiiti to task to explain why he witnessed the signing of a contract which had irregularities especially on the validity of the contract given to SGS.
However, Eng. Sabiiti, who is currently the Rubanda South MP, denied having been part of the team that approved the evaluation report of the project, but admitted to having witnessed the signing of the contract.
He also told the committee that if Parliament is to recommend for termination the contract, there should also be thorough investigations to establish if officials at Ministry of Works and Transport that are charged with supervision of the private contractor carried out their duties diligently.
