By Our Reporter
NATIONAL
A combined force of UPDF officers and Police has stopped opposition Members of Parliament from accessing entry into Lubowa Specialized hospital.
The MPs who were led by the Leader of Opposition, Joel Ssenyonyi were on an oversight visit today, 26th February, 2024. However, heavily armed security personnel denied them entry into the construction site.
The Shadow Cabinet was barred from accessing the construction site for Lubowa specialized hospital, just 3 months after Parliament approved Shs2.7Bn to Ministry of Health to use for the supervision works at the facility
“We came to do our work and we are waiting for the people responsible to open the gate for us, so that we enter & we investigate what is taking place. This is an installation to the Ministry of Health, what they are meant to do is to keep peace and order as well as provide security to us, but we don’t want the Police security because we are safe, but if they want, they can give us the security & they also witness what is taking place because Police officers are also taxpayers and in case they fall sick, the hospital will also help them,” said Joel Ssenyonyi, Leader of Opposition while addressing journalists at Lubowa.
Meanwhile, MP Allan Mayanja equally infuriated said, “The impunity we have witnessed today has been around for long. That is why we are asking ourselves, who is behind this project? Who is Pinetti to have so much power and given the chunks of money we have invested in this place, but they have barred us from entering, they are simply talking to the Leader of Opposition through a small window and they have heavily deployed Police and the Army, which makes me wonder if there are minerals being mined in this place. Because if you look at the situation on ground where even the local residents are arrested for merely passing by these premises, we wondered where our country is headed to.”
In 2019, security again blocked the minister of Health Dr Ruth Aceng and the permanent secretary, Dr. Diana Atwine from accessing the construction site of the proposed International Specialized Hospital in Lubowa.
Parliament had early 2019 approved a loan guarantee of Shs 1.4 trillion to Finasi/Roko, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for the construction of the hospital located in Lubowa, Wakiso district along the Kampala- Entebbe road.
