The Chairperson of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Muwanga Kivumbi, has revealed that the planned visit to the Lubowa Hospital site has once again flopped, stating a lack of proper protective gear as the reason for the flop.
Kivumbi said that the Committee got a communication from the Speaker of Parliament on April 26, 2024, requesting them to once again, for the third time, postpone the visit.
According to Kivumbi, the site visit, which was slated for today, April 26, 2024, was unsuccessful because the people in charge of the Lubowa hospital site yet again demanded more time for them to procure personal protective gear for the MPs to use while on site.
“The Committee had earlier planned to visit the site on April 12, 2024, but the team at Lubowa asked to have the visit held after April 22, 2024, leading to the Committee postponing the visit to April 26, 2024, but the agreed date too wasn’t honoured by people in charge of the Lubowa hospital site, who yet again demanded more time,” Kivumbi stated.
Kivumbi said that he will make a communication to the committee when the date is rescheduled.
“I am yet again going to communicate another date. This is a multi-billion-shilling project that is finding it hard to provide safety protective gear because PAC has 50 MPs, 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?” Kivumbi questioned.
The committee’s visit follows an audit query raised in the Auditor General’s report for Treasury Operations that an overpayment of Ugx 286 billion was made for no work done. The Ministry of Health disputed the findings, prompting the Committee to demand a site visit to ascertain the truths of the varying statements made.
