Lop calls for audit of Lubowa hospital project

**By Ibrahim Kavuma & Khalil Ibrahim Manzil **

The Leader of the Opposition in Parliament has called for a fresh audit of the Lubowa Specialised Hospital project, questioning continued government funding amid concerns over accountability and parliamentary access to the construction site.

Speaking during a media Breifing, Mr Joel Ssenyonyi the Lop said members of his Shadow Cabinet had attempted to inspect the project but were denied access.

“The money that goes there is appropriated by Parliament. We go there and we are denied access,” he said during a media briefing.

He said similar attempts had been made by Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee in the previous Parliament, but access was delayed on grounds that officials needed time to provide protective gear for the legislators.

“Two weeks elapsed, a month elapsed, months elapsed, and even that Parliament wound up,” Mr Ssenyonyi said.

He said he would push Parliament to ask the Auditor General to conduct a fresh audit of the project, which he said was last audited in 2022.

“It has been getting money every year. And even that Auditor General’s report of 2022 raised so many red flags,” he said, alleging that the report raised questions about accountability for funds released to the project.

Mr Ssenyonyi also questioned the approval of an additional Shs100 billion in the budget for operationalising the hospital, despite Parliament being denied access to the site.

“If you’re denying us access to these premises, why are you asking us to appropriate more money for them?” he asked.

He said the opposition’s objection to the allocation was defeated by the parliamentary majority.

Mr Ssenyonyi estimated that about Shs1.5 trillion had so far been invested in the project and called for an audit to establish whether taxpayers were receiving value for the money.

“Can we have value for that money?” he asked.

He said Parliament should establish how the funds have been spent and why the project has continued to receive public money without what he described as adequate follow-up auditing.

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