Authorities in Luwero district have diverted funds meant for the construction of Bowa Health Centre III due to the confusion created by a Presidential directive on hiring private contractors.
Dr Henry Mwebesa the Director General for Health Services had pledged during a tour of the district by Ministry of Health and World Health Organization officials in 2018, that the government will construct two staff units at Bowa Health Centre III in Makulubita Sub-county. At the time, some health workers at the Centre were sharing the ward with patients.
In line with the pledge, the district received 400 million Shillings in the 2021-2022 Financial Year to facilitate the construction of staff quarters at Bowa Health Centre III. However, to date, no construction has taken place.
Luwero district Chairman Erastus Kibirango confirms that the construction was delayed by a Presidential directive that all projects above 300 million Shillings within the health and education departments be executed by the engineering brigade of Uganda People’s Defense Forces-UPDF. He however said that they waited for the UPDF in vain.
Kibirango adds that a few days to the end of the financial year 2021/22, they received a response from the UPDF that the Brigade wouldn’t be able to execute the project. Kibirango says that as result they resolved to revisit their budget and commit the funds to other health centres so that they are not swept into the consolidated funds after the end of the financial year.
Luwero District Health Officer Dr Innocent Nkonwa said that the funds were committed to other smaller projects which can be executed by the district. These include the construction of maternity wards at Kibengo, Kalagala and Kasozi Health Centres as well as the construction of toilets at Nakigoza Health Centre II, Kamira HCIII and Nyimbwa Health Center IV. Other funds were also allocated to the renovation of the Outpatient Ward at Bowa Health Center III.
Nkonwa adds that the construction of staff units for Bowa Health Centre III has again been budgeted for in the 2022/23 financial year.
Tom Badda Kimbowa, the LCIII Chairperson of the Makulubita sub-county says that currently, the health workers are sleeping in a dilapidated structure constructed 100 years ago and fears that with the current economic crisis, the construction of new houses might be delayed further.
“With current budget cuts, residents and local leaders are worried that the staff units may not be constructed in the current financial year. We are concerned and we have lost hope,” Kimbowa said.
The same Presidential directive was also listed as a major impediment to the implementation of seven capital projects in the education department in Nakasongola District.
Efforts to speak to James Katongana, the Spokesperson of National Enterprise Corporation where UPDF Works and Engineering Ltd is a subsidiary were unfruitful by this morning.URN
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