Latest information indicates that there’s panic at Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development since President Yoweri Museveni has just got info that a top official in that ministry tried to extort money from Italian investor Enrica Panetta behind the Shs900bn (or USD250M) hospital in Lubowa near Quality Supermarket.
Reliable sources indicate that a powerful influential technocrat at finance ministry and is close to the procurement department had successfully asked Panetta to surrender 25% shares of the whole hospital business project to him.
This means that the top technocrat, whose elder brother was years ago interdicted for another big scandal buying vehicles for government officials, was going to pocket Shs225m which is the 25% of the Shs900bn for the whole project of the Lubowa hospital.
We shall identify the procurement technocrat by his initials KashMugi and leave it at that.
Noteworthy, Museveni criticized this technocrat indirectly last week as he commissioned the Lubowa hospital when he told the Italian investors to forgive him because the project delayed by 5 years.
A tearful Museveni said ‘I thank and congratulate you big people from the ministry of finance for delaying this project for 5 years.’
Internal sources have now showed us that KashMugi was, as of 2011 when Panetta first came to Museveni for land and joint venture MoU to start the hospital project, a big man in procurement department at ministry of health.
As a result, Museveni called Asuman Lukwago who was PS at healthy and told him to assign an officer to handle the Italian investors and ensure they get free land at Lubowa which belonged to Prof. Mugyenyi’s JCRC on behalf of government of Uganda.
Panetta had first come to the region to work with the South Sudan government and put her hospital there.
Apart from free land, she also wanted written guarantees that all the top government officials annually getting treatment abroad at a cost of USD186M will be sent by the health ministry to her hospital.
This would assure her of instant business and give banks like Standard Chartered confidence to give the loan for the Lubowa project after all the market was assured.
Mr. KashMugi saw this as a good chance to make money. He started telling her- “this is too much. I can only help you with paper work if I will also gain.”
Sources say Panetta became bitter and rang Vice President Riak Machar who linked her to former Somalia 1st Lady who later took her to Museveni through the NRM mobilizer called Milton Ocen from Otuke.
The Somali 1st Lady, who stays in Munyonyo government house, was meeting Museveni for personal problems and feared Panetta’s issues would make Museveni bored.
This is why she went with Ocen to be the one to introduce Panetta’s hospital project. Museveni wondered why Panetta whose issue he had handled three years earlier wasn’t progressing well.
He was busy and told Ocen to bring Panetta to Rwakitura on a weekend where they spoke for hours.
It was then that Panetta told Museveni, “Sir I’m disappointed your people are asking me for share in my business that hasn’t even yet started. Someone from your health ministry has asked me the equivalent of Shs225bn in the share equivalent.”
As narrated by credible sources, Museveni was so unhappy and sent for Asuman Lukwago and asked him: Who is that man you gave this assignment is? Lukwago moved out and rang Mr. KashMugi and told him to hurry to State House.
He didn’t know Panetta was there and came only to be shocked.
Museveni asked Panetta to repeat everything and Mr. KashMugi was arrested there and then by Col. Mzee Sabiiti of SFC and fired from the health ministry job by the President, but the matter was kept a top secret.
What is shocking now is that when Panetta’s godfathers realized Museveni has forgotten, they brought back the mafia procurement technocrat and gave him even a bigger job in the finance ministry.
After firing the Mafia technocrat, Museveni became so embarrassed and assigned a State House official called Miriam Kankunda to be directly dealing with Panetta, whose hospital is soon beginning to treat Ugandans and thereby stopping going abroad.
Months later, Museveni sent his State House team in Italy to inspect the equipment Panetta plans to install in the hospital at Lubowa and they passed it to be good enough.
Panetta was happy and rewarded Museveni by organizing his trip to Vatican where he met the Pope.
Panetta also helped Museveni to convince the Pope to visit Uganda. This is how close the two bosses are and it’s suspected once he realizes that Mr. KashMugi is back in the public service, Museveni is going to fume very seriously and send him back to Luzira because Lubowa extortion saga was never concluded.
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