Muwanga Kivumbi, Chairperson, Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, has revealed that today’s planned visit to Lubowa hospital site by the Committee flopped, following a request by Speaker Among to have the visit postponed, after the Lubowa hospital team asked for more time to allow them procure personal protective gears for the MPs to use while on site.
The Committee had earlier planned to visit the site on 12th April 2024, but the team at Lubowa asked to have the visit held after 22nd April 2024, leading to the Committee to set postpone the visit to 26th April 2024, but the agreed date too wasn’t honoured by people in charge of Lubowa hospital site who yet again demanded for more time.
Muwanga made the revelation while addressing journalists at Parliament, where he revealed that the first visiting date was cancelled after the proprietors of Lubowa demanded for the names, shoes sizes of all MPs on the Committee in order to avail them with personal protective gears while on site.
“When the clerk received the letter, the Speaker wrote asking the Committee to stay their visit to Lubowa hospital. I am not stubborn in the way I do things; I am a very patient man to the extent that I can even escort these people up to their home. We appeal to the powers that be, hands off, let the Committee do its work,” said Muwanga.
“We sent them names of the Committee members, we even sent them the sizes of the shoes of MPs on the Committee and these reflector jackets, you can even get a tailor to make them for you, so they aren’t exception and have some electronics that can detect a brick falling. We will not be deterred these tactics of delays; I am yet again going to communicate another date. This is a multi-billion project that are finding it hard to provide safety protective gears because, PAC has 50MPs, the press is about 20 and the support staff is about 15. Is that too big to go even to Owino to buy those other reflectors, to buy plastic helmets and to buy gumboots?” added Muwanga.
In one of the letters paraded by Muwanga during the press briefing, Kenneth Akiiri, Head of Finance and Administration at the Ministry of Finance, wrote on behalf of the Permanent Secretary on 24th April 2024, asking the Committee to halt its planned visit siting the bloated delegation that was coming from Parliament, in order to allow the Lubowa team to provide the safety gears.
“Given the substantial size of the delegation, the developer has expressed the need for additional time to procure the necessary visitors during the site visit. Consequently, an alternative date for the visit will be communicated in due course. We kindly request that the MPs defer the visit until the new date is communicated. We assure you that we are diligently working to ensure that all necessary arrangements for site safety are put in place promptly ahead of the oversight visit,” read in part the letter.
