MoE’s shift to turn Kyambogo into hub for key education entities

If all goes as planned, the Ministry of Education and Sports will in the next 18 months be housed in a permanent location along Kigobe road in Kyambogo, writes YUDAYA NANGONZI.
For a long time, key departments and units of the Education ministry have been accommodated at various locations around Kampala. These include; the Embassy building, Legacy Towers in Nakasero, Rwenzori courts, NSSF house, and Kyambogo. In all the locations, the ministry shares space with other government agencies and the private sector.
Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony for the ministry headquarters at Kyambogo primary school playground last week, Education minister Janet Museveni said this has not only been costly in terms of expenditure on rent but also compromised efficiency.
The ministry spends at least Shs 4.5bn on rent annually. The headquarters will facilitate seamless interactions and coordination.
“After many years of prayer and planning, our dream of having our own home is finally in our view. With our own home at Kyambogo, we hope to have a commonplace of convergence as a family and this will ease coordination among departments as well as improve our efficiency,” Museveni said.
The ministry first worked on a design for its headquarters with the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) in 2010. However, Museveni said financing of the project became a challenge and NCHE eventually built its own home just below the ministry’s premises.
SECURING THE HEADQUARTERS
According to the state minister for Higher Education, Dr John C Muyingo, the journey to the headquarters has been a true test of patience. The first discussions between the government and the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), on the BTVET Support Project which birthed the headquarters were held in March 2015 and the Bank conducted the first project appraisal in October 2015.
Muyingo explained that the initial terms and conditions of financing included a high component of non-concessional financing, which the ministry of Finance considered to be “beyond our reach.”
In May 2016, more favorable financing terms and conditions were agreed upon, including a reduced loan total and project scope but excluded the construction of the ministry headquarters.
“When the first lady joined the ministry in 2017, she withdrew the project proposal from cabinet, to review it in line with the TVET reform process. The revisions were later justified, reintroduced the headquarters building, and approved by cabinet in November 2017,” Muyingo said.
By that time, however, IsDB had waited for more than one and a half years from the time the bank approved the project for financing in May 2016 and was ready to cancel the loan. Museveni appealed the bank’s decision in January 2018.
Six months later, the IsDB reappraised the project with what Muyingo called favorable financing terms and conditions that were then renegotiated in October 2018. The revised project proposal was presented by Muyingo for parliamentary scrutiny and eventually approved in August 2019.
The loan agreements were signed by Finance minister Matia Kasaija in April 2020 and the project was declared effective in July 2020. IsDB will pay up to 68% of the Shs 61.93bn contract sum excluding taxes, while the government will foot the remaining 32%.
PROJECT IN DETAIL
The ministry’s permanent secretary, Ketty Lamaro, said following an International Competitive Bidding process, the ministry contracted Symbion Uganda Limited in July 2021 to provide infrastructure-related consultancy for the headquarters. The firm took about one year to work on the architectural and engineering designs and tender documents.
In October 2022, out of the 28 bids, Sadeem Al-Kuwait General Trading & Contracting Company from Kuwait in a joint venture with Dott Services Limited from Uganda emerged winner.
With the ongoing construction of new offices for the Uganda Business and Technical Examinations Board (UBTEB) and land allocated for the Education Service Commission, Kyambogo hill is set to become a hub of key education entities.
Kyambogo is already home to the Inter-University Council for East Africa, the National Council for Higher Education, several examination bodies, Public Tutors College, National Curriculum Development Centre and Kyambogo University. The Directorate of Education Standards – presently in a permanent home in Kyambogo – will also shift to the headquarters and its building repurposed for other ministry activities.
nangonzi@observer.ug