Lubowa hospital project: MPs deserved to be blocked - NGO

Allana Kembabazi, ISER program manager

What you need to know:

MPs on the Committee on National Economy, together with Dr Aceng and the Health ministry Permanent Secretary, Dr Diana Atwine, were blocked by security from accessing the Lubowa site, which project construction, is under contest.

Last week’s blocking of MPs and Minister of Health Jane Ruth Aceng to access the construction site for the International Specialised Hospital Uganda (ISHU) in Lubowa, was a deserved action because they never listened to calls against funding the project, a social rights NGO, has said.
MPs on the Committee on National Economy, together with Dr Aceng and the Health ministry Permanent Secretary, Dr Diana Atwine, were blocked by security from accessing the Lubowa site, which project construction, is under contest.
Ms Allana Kembabazi, the program manager for Initiative for Social and Economic Rights (ISER), told Sunday Monitor on Friday that the denial to access the site is a preliminary indicator that the funds for which a Shs1.4 trillion ($379m) loan was approved is a fraud.
Ms Kembabazi said government should draw lessons from the Finasi/Roko conundrum where by the financier could not be granted access to the construction site despite all the “unclear” issues concerning the construction of the ISHU.
“This reflects the question of the state being unable to regulate the private sector. The MPs deserved the demeaning treatment they got at the site because they rushed to approval the loan under unclear circumstances,” Ms Kembabazi said.
Ms Kembabazi, whose organisation has dragged government to court seeking nullification of all agreements made with the investor, said that policy makers should learn from this experience to find a solution on how to embrace private investments in the country.
She said Parliament ought to have first studied the origin of the project before approving the loan, because Ugandans needed to see a transparent process, take control and regulate the process.
“Our message to these law makers is that they should know that the agreements made between government and the investor were illegal. So, please listen to Ugandans and halt the process that is riddled with scandal after scandal,” she said.
Last week, the contractor of ISHU explained that the MPs, the minister and her PS were blocked from accessing the site because of security reasons.
The MPs had sought permission from the Health ministry to visit the site. However, they found the gate to the site blocked with a grader and a pickup truck parked at the entrance of the facility.
Irene Ochwo, the public relations officer Finasi/Roko SPV, said in a statement that the incident was caused by lack of appropriate notification to the SPV team regarding the intended visit.
The project has been marred with controversies. Recently, Roko, one of the project partners, said it was being unfairly kicked out in favour of a new company, Power China Guizhou Engineering Co, Ltd.