The motor vehicle service bay at the Ministry headquarters received a facelift courtesy of Vivo Energy Uganda Limited. In 2020, the oil marketing company offered to fully finance the rehabilitation and installation of a state of the art lubrication equipment system with a metered air tyre inflation system for use at the Central Mechanical workshop.

The Ministry Top Leadership unanimously approved this proposal leading to the signing of a MoU between the Ministry and Vivo Energy Uganda limited in August 2021.

One month later, refurbishment works commenced and on the 9^th of March 2022, as part of the celebrations for Women’s Day, the Ministry staff and top leadership gathered to commission the revamped service bay.

The speakers at the ceremony were keen to note that the service bay refurbishment works were led by female engineers hence the commissioning fitting well into the Women’s Day celebration theme.

“The whole project was spearheaded by the Assistant Commissioner/Inspection who is a lady. Among those who were trained to do the service of vehicles was a lady too; thereby ensuring that gender balance is mainstreamed into the Ministry’s operations,” said the Engineer in Chief, Samson Bagonza who represented the Permanent Secretary.

This year, Women’s Day was celebrated under the theme; "Gender Equality Today for a Sustainable Tomorrow," the theme, highlighted the constraints to our country’s development brought about by gender inequalities, negative attitudes towards work, mindsets, cultural practices and perceptions.

The Minister for Works and Transport, Gen. Katumba Wamala emphasized that these must be addressed in order to achieve sustainable and equitable development.

“Gender inequality can only be addressed through partnerships at different levels between men and women, as well as partnerships between various sectors and actors in the development process,” said the Minister.

The Minister also commended Vivo Energy’s participation and partnership in Road Safety initiatives which also greatly contribute to the Ministry’s mandate of ensuring a safe, inclusive and sustainable transport system.

“A sound and well-maintained motor vehicle fleet is pivotal for attaining this overarching mandate. Therefore, the revamp of the Ministry's Service Bay by Vivo Energy Uganda Ltd, will ensure enhanced availability of the fleet and hence the smooth execution of our mandate,” he emphasized.