Senior presidential advisor and head of Teso-Karamoja governance monitoring mechanism, Lt.Gen.Peter Elwelu has called for water drilling equipment for districts in Karamoja, in a bid to save government monies.

Addressing the media today at Moroto district headquarters,Elwelu raised concern that much of the funds channeled to water departments in the various Karamoja districts are being wasted on hiring contractors to carry out designing processes, other than the actual monies for constructing the water sources.

He cited an example in the financial year 2022/23 where a sum of 138 million shillings was used to design three water points in Moroto district.

Moroto district water officer Musa Lowot in response said the policy in place previously demanded that the designing of the water points be awarded to contractors.

Lowot however noted that the policy now allows them to carry out designing processes in-house, something he says will save the districts from over expenditure.

The district water officer who was sweating profusely added that the district will only be left with facilitation of officers to carry out data collection.

On the other hand, Gen.Elwelu says water departments in Karamoja districts have not done much to serve the locals, despite government sinking over 20 billion shillings for water in the sub-region in the last three financial years.

He however believes that with water equipment in districts like it is with roads, monies will be saved to serve the locals with enough water for consumption and production.