The engine of a hand-held tractor belonging to Obiba sub-county in Maracha district has been stolen under mysterious circumstances.
The hand-held tractor was among hundreds distributed to various local governments, with each lower local government in Maracha receiving at least one unit. The tractors were procured by the Ministry of Agriculture to boost and mechanise farming.
The tractor was reportedly towed to a nearby cassava plantation from where it had been parked before the engine was removed by unknown people in May this year.
The watchman on duty on the fateful night, David Baniyo, was detained and two days later released on police bond.
After interrogation, the watchman told Vision Group’s Arua One FM that the theft of the engine occurred when he had left the sub-county headquarters to attend to his sick mother.
The LCII chairperson of Baranya parish, David Ojandu, condemned the incident. However, he blamed the sub-county leadership for the failed security that led to the theft of the engine.
The LCIII chairperson of Obiba sub-county, Samuel Mbaku, said their continued efforts to have a police officer deployed at the sub-county headquarters have never been honoured.
The government handed over 27 big tractors and 326 walking tractors to all the districts in the three sub-regions of Acholi, Lango, and West Nile towards the end of last year at a function held at Namalere National Mechanised Referral Centre in Wakiso district.
Both the Minister for Agriculture, Frank Tumwebaze, and the permanent secretary of the ministry, Maj. Gen. David Kasura Kyomukama, said the decision to distribute tractors to the Northern region was due to the arable land available in the region.
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