Parliamentarians Denied Access to Lubowa Specialized Hospital Construction Site

Members of the opposition in Parliament were on Monday met with obstruction as they attempted to access the construction site of the Lubowa specialized hospital.

This incident occurred merely three months after Parliament had allocated Shs2.7 billion to the Ministry of Health for supervision works at the facility.

The opposition representatives, led by Joel Ssenyonyi, the leader of Opposition in Parliament expressed their intent to investigate the site, emphasizing the Ministry of Health’s responsibility for the project’s implementation. Despite their insistence, they were denied entry by security personnel stationed at the gate.

Ssenyonyi asserted that they felt safe and did not require police security. However, he suggested that if authorities insisted on providing security, it should extend to opposition MPs, who are also taxpayers.

The Leader of Opposition, addressing journalists at Lubowa, condemned the situation, labeling it as impunity that has persisted for an extended period. He questioned the motives behind the project and criticized the heavy deployment of police and military personnel at the site.

“We came to do our work and we are waiting for the people responsible to open the gate for us, so that we enter and 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 Ssenyonyi

“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,” remarked Mayanja

Timothy Batuwa, the Jinja West MP, denounced the actions of security forces as illegal and called for the prosecution of individuals involved in obstructing Parliament from fulfilling its constitutional mandate.

The controversy surrounding the Lubowa project dates back to January 2023 when concerns were raised about the country’s escalating public debt. Charles Ayume, the chairperson of Parliament’s Health Committee, urged the government to pause funding for the hospital’s construction and prioritize smaller critical infrastructure projects in the health sector.

Furthermore, members of Parliament on the Health Committee rejected a supplementary budget request of Shs2.7 billion by the Ministry of Health, citing a lack of proof of progress at the Lubowa Hospital site. They demanded accountability and transparency regarding the status of the Shs14 trillion project.

Despite these challenges, the Ministry of Health officials presented their request during a meeting with the committee, underscoring the need for clarity and oversight in the ongoing construction of the Lubowa specialized hospital.