Government should halt the construction of Lubowa Hospital

Koboko Municipality Member of Parliament Hon Charles Ayume has asked Government to halt the construction of Sh1.44tn Lubowa Specialised Hospital due to the sky-rocketing public debt that has hit Sh97tn.

The Health Ministry recently told Parliament that there has not been any construction work at Lubowa for two years now.

“You are very aware that our economy is not very healthy. You saw the Auditor General’s report, our national debt is about Sh97tn, I am not sure where we shall get money for some of these projects. But we also thought that can we suppress any new infrastructure projects maybe including Lubowa and we complete what is at stake because some of them need Shs2b or Sh3b. So Ministry of Finance, can you find us these small money, we aren’t coming to you for big projects,” said Dr Ayume.

George Bokha (Obongi County) wondered why the Ministry of Health, recently asked for Sh2.7b for supervision works at Lubowa yet works had stalled for two years.

“This Committee was there two years ago, work had stalled, a supplementary budget was requested for supervision of works, you don’t supervise stalled works, you supervise work in progress. What was the basis and rationale for requesting funds for supervision when the entity knows work stalled,” wondered Bokha.

The Minister for Health, Hon Jane Ruth Aceng, however defended the recent request for additional Sh2.7b for supervising works at Lubowa Hospital saying that the funds will facilitate the movement of the consortium of engineers from the Ministry of Works & Ministry of Health to supervise works, after the new contractor takes over the site because Government did not allocate any funds for consultancy services.

“Money has never been provided for supervision (Lubowa Hospital) even when they have completed the hostels those ones were supervised by our engineers at the Ministry of Health. This money (Shs2.7Bn) is being provided because now, there is a contractor on the ground and that contractor is expected to start work, and I haven’t been there myself to see if they have started but the engineers have to report on the ground,” said Minister Aceng.

Meanwhile, Aceng revealed that the continued theft or involvement in road crashes of all the three ambulances allocated to Arua Hospital recently, has left Government perplexed on what to do for the West Nile region.

“The story of Arua is sad, every ambulance we give to Arua, it is either stolen or knocked. And I will tell you, one was stolen, one was involved in an accident in October. UNHCR provided an ambulance again it was involved in an accident in January, so, we are at a loss for what to do with Arua. We need serious discussions with you the leaders from that area,” said Aceng sorrowfully.