Construction works going on at International Specialised Hospital of Uganda (ISHU) in Lubowa off Entebbe Road. The Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka says the work will be completed in June 2026. PHOTO/ISAAC KASAMANI
The long-delayed International Specialised Hospital of Uganda (ISHU) in Lubowa, off Entebbe Road, will be completed in June 2026, Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka has said. Construction of the hospital was supposed to be completed in June 2021 after the Ministry of Health officially handed over the site to the developer in June 2019.
It remains unfinished. “The anticipated completion date for the hospital is June 2026,” Mr Kiwanuka said in a letter to the Daily Monitor dated April 17. “While the project experienced delays due to a considerable number of unforeseen force majeure events, including the global Covid-19 pandemic, the government and the developer have, as a cure, agreed to an accelerated works programme to ensure timely completion,” he added. Mr Kiwanuka’s letter was a response to a March 18 story in this newspaper, “Lubowa: Shs700b spent, no hospital” and ‘Inside Pinetti’s bottomless pit”, in the same edition, which reported concerns, including from Members of Parliament, about the lack of progress and transparency around the taxpayer-funded project.
Ms Enrica Pinetti, an Italian businesswoman, is the project developer. The Daily Monitor story was published after Parliament on March 12 passed a Shs4.2 trillion supplementary budget, which included another tranche of money for the project, one of many that are behind schedule. According to the story, the supplementary budget included a Shs298b vote for the ISHU in Lubowa, which brought the total amount of taxpayers’ money pumped into the 264-bed facility to Shs774.4b.
Different dates
Different government agencies and officials have given different dates and status updates about the project. Mr Ramathan Ggoobi, the secretary to the Treasury, told journalists on April 14, 2022 that “September 2024 is the date we expect this [Hospital] to open for Ugandans.” While presenting the 2023/2024 Health ministry policy statement on March 9, 2023, the Minister of Health, Dr Ruth Aceng, told MPs that construction was at 32 percent and revealed that there had been a revision in the completion timeline between Ms Pinetti and the government to December 2024.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja told Parliament on January 25 this year that construction was at 61.8 percent and was expected to be completed in April, while Dr Aceng told the parliamentary Health committee in the same month that construction was at 45 percent. Ms Nabbanja said: “The work that is there now is 61.8 percent complete, physical. I am reliably informed that all the equipment that is supposed to be used in that hospital is already manufactured and procured. The staff who are supposed to work in that hospital are still undergoing training in Italy.
They (the contractor) are working day and night. I request that we should give the money so that we complete this in April...I am being sincere to you...I am a strong Catholic... I always tell you the truth.” By then, Ms Nabbanja was seeking Parliament’s approval for the supplementary budget for the hospital. The conflicting figures provided by the officials created confusion, prompting the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, Mr Joel Ssenyonyi, to question the transparency and impact of past payments made to the developer.
In his April 17 letter, Attorney General Kiwanuka defended the payments, noting that “all the executed project works are professionally inspected, measured and certified and the relevant Milestone Completion Certificates issued accordingly”. He added: “Every payment made to the developer of the Lubowa International Specialised Hospital has, to our understanding, always been made in strict compliance with the requirements of Project Agreements.
Payments are only made following performance and completion by the developer of a specific volume of work (Milestone), which milestone(s) are, as earlier observed, duly certified prior to any payment.” “The measurement of milestones is conducted professionally by suitably qualified personnel i.e. by the owner’s engineer, who monitors the work as the technical expert appointed by the Government and works with a team of other multi-skilled professionals from the Ministry of Works and Transport,” he explained. In his letter, the Attorney General also gave a detailed update of the project. “Furthermore, all auxiliary buildings, including the training wing and doctors’ hostel, have been completed, and the training of staff to operate the facility is already underway including in these facilities,” he said. The hospital project was first mooted in 2015 and construction flagged off by President Museveni in June 2017 as a private undertaking. In March 2019, the Executive turned up before Parliament and successfully requested MPs to approve a loan guarantee of $379m (Sh1.4 trillion) for the hospital.
Editor’s note
Nation Media Group notes with deep concern the claim by Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka that our coverage of the delayed completion of the International Specialised Hospital of Uganda amounts to “economic sabotage” against the country. Independent media seeks to hold those in power accountable to citizens. Following taxpayer money and reporting about how it is used is part of that mandate. That Lubowa Hospital is seriously behind schedule despite billions of taxpayer money being paid to the developers is an uncontested fact. All parties, particularly those with the responsibility in government, should work in the public interest by ensuring that the developer completes the project as soon as possible and to the highest quality. Doing so is patriotism, not sabotage.
Editor.
