MPS DENIED ACCESS TO LUBOWA HOSPITAL SITE DESPITE HEALTH MINISTER’S DIRECTIVE

Leader of the Opposition, Joel Ssenyonyi, and a group of shadow cabinet members denied entry to the construction site of the International Specialized Hospital in Lubowa

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The Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, Joel Ssenyonyi and several members of the shadow cabinet have been denied access to the construction site of the International Specialised Hospital of Uganda (ISHU) in Lubowa, despite a written directive from Health Minister Chris Baryomunsi authorising a guided oversight tour.

Ssenyonyi had formally notified Finasi-ISHU Construction SPV Limited on September 9 of the legislators’ intention to visit the site as part of Parliament’s oversight mandate. The contractor’s Group Chief Operating Officer, Charles Byaruhanga, subsequently sought guidance from the Ministry of Health on whether the visit should proceed.

In a response dated September 10, Baryomunsi directed the contractor to facilitate the MPs’ guided tour at 10:00 a.m. on September 16, while instructing them to comply with health and safety requirements.

However, when Ssenyonyi and the legislators arrived at the site on Wednesday, the main gate remained locked. Security personnel inside the premises made several telephone calls but did not grant the MPs clearance to enter. Ssenyonyi said he contacted Baryomunsi and State Minister for Health Charles Ayume after the refusal, but their guidance was still disregarded.

The Opposition leader also questioned the continued allocation of public funds to the project when Parliamentarians are unable to independently establish the extent of construction.

The incident is the latest in a series of disputes over access to the Lubowa project, one of Uganda’s largest and most closely scrutinised health infrastructure developments.

In February 2024, Ssenyonyi and other legislators were similarly blocked from entering the site despite clearance from the then Health Minister. Security personnel reportedly demanded additional authorisation from the Inspector General of Police.

Other attempts to inspect the project have also encountered difficulties. A planned visit by Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee in 2024 was postponed over concerns about the availability of safety equipment at the construction site.

The 264-bed hospital is being developed under a public-private partnership involving Italian-led consortium Finasi and local construction firm ROKO Construction. Parliament approved government guarantees and financing of about US$379.7 million, equivalent to roughly Shs1.4 trillion at the time.

Construction officially began in 2019 following earlier agreements, with the original contractual completion date set for June 2021. The completion timeline has since shifted several times.

Official estimates of progress have also varied. Then Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng put physical progress at about 70 per cent in April 2026, while the June 2026 Budget Speech reported progress at 75 per cent and moved the expected completion date to December 2027.

Ssenyonyi and other Opposition legislators have, however, cited public financial commitments approaching or exceeding Shs1.5 trillion. The project has also attracted repeated scrutiny from Parliament and the Auditor General.

In its report for the financial year ended June 30, 2024, the Auditor General noted that Parliament had recommended against continued funding of the project because of limited progress and difficulties faced by oversight committees in accessing the site. Despite the recommendation, the Ministry of Finance continued making payments.

The audit further reported that 286 billion Shillings in payments had been made on the basis of milestone completion certificates that were not adequately supported and were largely based on contractor reports. The owner’s engineer, according to the audit, had also experienced restricted access to the site.

At one stage, government engineers had certified only 23 per cent of the works, despite substantially higher disbursements being made through promissory notes.

The Public Accounts Committee subsequently called for a halt to further funding pending a special audit and recommended that individuals responsible for any financial losses be held accountable. The continuing dispute over access has also raised broader questions about Parliament’s ability to exercise its constitutional oversight role over major public projects.

Article 90 of the Constitution provides for Parliament to establish committees and exercise functions including monitoring government expenditure and the implementation of government programmes and projects. Article 164 further reinforces Parliament’s responsibility to monitor public expenditure.

The Access to Information Act, 2005, gives effect to the constitutional right to access information held by public bodies, with the broader objective of promoting transparency and accountability. The Public Private Partnerships Act, 2015, meanwhile, provides for the monitoring and evaluation of PPP projects from inception through implementation and post-completion.

Against this legal and institutional framework, repeated difficulties in accessing a publicly funded project have become a central point of contention between Parliament, government agencies and the project partners.

The Lubowa hospital was conceived as a specialised referral facility offering advanced services including cancer treatment, organ transplantation, cardiac care and specialised diagnostics. Its intended role is to reduce the number and cost of Ugandans travelling abroad for specialised medical treatment.

But years after construction began, the facility is yet to become operational. The delays have occurred as existing public health facilities, including Mulago National Referral Hospital and regional referral centres, continue to face pressure from high patient numbers, infrastructure constraints and other resource challenges.

Opposition legislators have previously argued that additional funding for Lubowa should instead be directed towards strengthening functional public health facilities.

The controversy also reflects wider concerns surrounding major public-private infrastructure projects in the region, where delays, changing costs, limited independent verification and difficulties in legislative scrutiny have sometimes complicated implementation.

For Uganda, the Lubowa project has increasingly become a test of the balance between executive management of major infrastructure projects and Parliament’s responsibility to scrutinise public expenditure.

As of Wednesday, the contractor had not publicly explained why the legislators were denied entry despite the Health Minister’s written directive. The Ministry of Health and project partners have maintained that construction is progressing towards eventual completion and operationalisation.

Written by newsroom-radiopacis