MPs plot funding cut to Lubowa hospital after being denied access
Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, Mr Joel Ssenyonyi (right) in a bitter exchange with a police officer outside Lubowa International Specialised Hospital project in Wakiso District on February 26, 2024. PHOTO/DAVID LUBOWA
What you need to know:
- February 26 was not the first time for police to deny access to official site visitors. In 2019, a team of Health ministry officials and some MPs led by Dr Aceng, and Dr Diana Atwine, the permanent secretary at the ministry, were locked out of the premises.
The Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in Parliament, Mr Joel Ssenyonyi, together with his shadow cabinet have unanimously agreed to move a motion in Parliament, proposing to block any more funding to the stalled Lubowa International Specialised Hospital project in Wakiso District.
Mr Ssenyonyi and colleagues took the decision against the backdrop of continued secrecy surrounding it, and an unexplained failure for the hospital works to progress years after billions of shilling in taxpayers’ money were pumped into it.
Their decision followed yet another police refusal of access to MPs who visited the site on February 26, 2024.
Although the Opposition legislators were in possession of a permission letter signed by the Health minister, Dr Jane Ruth Aceng, they were unable to convince security personnel at the project site to let them in. The police instead asked them to present another permission letter from the Inspector General of Police (IGP).
Addressing the media at the closed gates of the construction site, Mr Ssenyonyi said it is illegal to prevent MPs from touring a construction site of a public project.
“In December, last year, we approved Shs2.7 billion for the inspection of this hospital, but nothing is happening here, the takeaway from here is clear; let us have taxpayers’ money put into other facilities that can offer services to the locals,” Mr Ssenyonyi said.
“This hospital is under the Ministry of Health and the in-charge minister cleared us to visit the place. It beats my understanding when someone, who is just meant to provide security, blocks us from entering, yet they will come to us asking for more money,” he added.
Ms Salama Namutosi, the commander of Kajjansi police, asked the legislators to vacate the premises and return on any other day with clearance from her boss, Inspector General of Police John Martins Okoth-Ochola. But the LoP countered: “We are not visiting a police barracks, why do we have to be cleared by the IGP? This is a clear sign that there is no value for the billions of money invested in this sham project”.
February 26 was not the first time for police to deny access to official site visitors. In 2019, a team of Health ministry officials and some MPs led by Dr Aceng, and Dr Diana Atwine, the permanent secretary at the ministry, were locked out of the premises.
Equally, last year a Monitor journalist was arrested at the same site which he had visited on assignment.
In 2019, Parliament approved a government loan of $379 million (about Shs1.4 trillion at the time) for the construction of a 264-bed capacity specialised hospital in Lubowa.
The government has since spent more than Shs350b on the project, which was initially contracted out to ROKO Construction Company before it pulled out under unclear circumstances.
