Kivumbi to grill govt officials over Lubowa as MPs denied site visit again

The chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) – Central, Mr Muwanga Kivumbi has resolved to invite and interrogate government officials over the stalled construction works on the International Specialized Hospital Uganda (ISHU) located at Lubowa along Entebbe Road.

“Meanwhile next week, I will summon the Ministry of Health to come so that we finish the audit report. I will not be the [ministry of health alone because I have 552 agencies whose reports I must do and I will conclude with them firmly,” he said he said on Friday. 

He added: “I want the engineer, the PS and I'm also calling the Accountant General’s office to be there so that we have one conclusive meeting.”

This was after a second attempt by his committee to visit the construction failed on grounds that the site in charge-Finasi Construction SPV- required more time to procure sufficient safety gear for the inspecting team comprising over 50 members to the site.

Instructions from the Ministry of Health and Finasi to defer the said visit that was meant to happen on Friday, April 26, were wired through the office of Clerk to Parliament and Speaker Anita Among’s office.

“When the clerk received the letter, the Speaker asked the Committee to stay their visit to Lubowa Hospital. I'm not stubborn in the way I do things,” he said adding; “I am a very patient man to the extent that I can even escort these people up to their home. We appeal to the powers that be, hands off, let the Committee do its work.”

On Friday, Mr Muwanga told journalists at Parliament that the committee is on a mission to look into findings in the Auditor General report.

In first interface between committee and the Ministry of Health, MPs referenced to privately held documents in special Auditor’s General’s Report that a payment of USD57 Million was commensurate to the 23 per cent work done at the site while the other USD76 million [about Shs286 Billion] was paid in excess thus causing a loss to government.

The Ministry of Health is therefore faulted for having issued milestone certificates premising on reports fetched from the contractor’s engineer on site without doing physical inspections to okay payments that are in tandem with works on site.

This was however refuted by Mr George Otim, the engineer who also equally serves as the Commissioner Health Infrastructure at the Ministry of Health, something that MPs want to verify.

This physical site inspection has twice failed to happen, consequently forcing Mr Kivumbi to grill government officials on the matter to fetch answers about the said loss.

“The engineer disputed the auditor generals’ report so we wanted to go and verify. We aren’t engineers but construction is like pregnancy, so you don’t need an expert to tell that really, some work is going on in construction and they aren’t building the hospital in the underground,” Mr Muwanga said.

Considering that findings unearthed by the Auditor General on the Lubowa Hospital has never been made public with the committee struggling to make reference on the same, Mr Kiviumbi has resolved to hold a meeting on Monday to settle the matter.

“We have since written to him [Auditor General] to issue that special audit report but has since sat on it,” Mr Muwanga said.

He has since decided to physically invite the accountant general’s team and Ministry of Health officials to settle the probe.

He also decried the persistent deployment of military officials at the construction site that continuously block legislators from visiting the site.

“Lubowa isn’t a classified site. Constructing a hospital isn’t a military facility, it is for the people of Uganda. That hospital should have been up and running by 2022, they postponed it to September 2024, my friend Elias Lukwago should never have gone to India, he should have been treated at Lubowa, now he had to go all the way to India for treatment,” Mr Kivumbi said.

Timeline

On April 11, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health, Dr Diana Atwine formally notified the Finasi International Specialized Hospital Uganda Construction that MPs of the PAC-Central would inspect the hospital construction site.

“The purpose of this visit is to ascertain the progress of works and possibly interact with the developer and the project management team,” Dr Atwine’s letter reads in part.

In a reply made on April 12, the Finasi Chief Operations Officer (COO) Mr Charles Byaruhanga objected to the visit reasoning that the heavy machinery on the construction site would require that full safety gear be prepared for MPs, Ministry of Health officials and other accompanying officials to use at the time of the visit.

“As you are well aware, we recommenced full-scale construction on February 14, 2024 and the project site is covered under the necessary construction all risks policy which must be complied with to ensure the health and safety of all persons on site,” Mr Byaruhanga’s letter reads in part. 

He also instructed all persons lined up for the visit to share full names for the purpose of generating name tags, personal protective jacket sizes and protective shoe sizes.

Consequently, Dr Atwine notified the PAC chairperson Mr Kivumbi about the aforementioned obstruction to earlier planned visit, to which he wrote back rescheduling the visit to Friday April 26 at 9AM. 

This did not happen after the office of the Clerk to Parliament received a letter cancelling the said visit.

A Ministry of Health letter signed by Mr Kenneth Akiiri on behalf of the PS Dr Atwine, revealed that Parliament was notified that the intended visiting delegation that was in excess of 50 members, necessitated extra time to allow the Finasi management ample time to procure all safety gear for visiting team.

“Given the substantial size of the delegation, the developer has expressed the need for additional time to procure the necessary personal protective equipment (PPE) to ensure the safety of all visitors,” Mr Akiiri’s letter to Parliament reads in part.

It also requested that the visit be deferred “until the new date is communicated.”

In February, the Leader of Opposition Mr Joel Seenyonyi together with other lawmakers were denied access to the construction site at Lubowa.

In the same month, the Speaker of Parliament Ms Anita Among asked her deputy Mr Thomas Tayebwa to visit, inspect the site and report back to Parliament on the same. Mr Tayebwa did not however visit the site and no formal communication on the same was made. 

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