Finance Minister Kasaija (2nd L) with investor Enrica Pinetti (left) after signing the controversial coffee agreement. Looking on (2nd Right) is Ramathan Ggoobi, PS, Ministry of Finance
The Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development through its Treasury Operations Department has gifted the investor of Lubowa specialized hospital with over Shs667.765Bn.
However, the move has irked lawmakers who argue that Ugandan taxpayers were duped in the multi-trillion ghost hospital deal.
While appearing before Parliament’s Finance Committee, Lawrence Semakula, the Accountant General said that in 2021/2022, money to a tune of Shs348.212Bn was wired to Enrica Pinetti, the proprietor of Lubowa International Specialised Hospital and needs more funds to a tune of Shs319.552Bn bringing total to Shs667.765Bn if this latest request is approved by Parliament.
Otuke County MP, Paul Omara questioned why Government was gifting Pinetti with all this money yet in the promissory notes, she was meant to secure her own financing and Uganda was to simply act as guarantee.
“If government gives you a promissory note and say we guarantee if you default then that is when you can call on that element. We see that you guys are already making a provision, has the lady or what was the content of the contract?” asked Omara.
He added: “If we simply talked about a government guarantee, we know what it is and we need an explanation because you can’t call on that money now if it is a government guarantee. If it was a government loan you tell us, because you can’t use the word guarantee.”
Butambala County MP, Muwanga Kivumbi said that originally, the thinking was that this investor would secure a loan from a British bank so that Uganda pays, but Parliament was shocked to learn Government has already gifted Lubowa owners with billions of money which implies Pinetti failed to secure a loan from the British bank.
He said: “We believe that there is a lot going on that this money shouldn’t be paid to this so called investor, this is just freezing the country. the money we are paying is is guaranteed, it is automatic, it isn’t something that is negotiable, it is a charge on our consolidated fund once it falls due.”
Muwanga said that the money that has been injected in Lubowa International Specialised Hospital is capable of constructing 20 district hospitals in Uganda, but there is nothing to show for the money.
“So that means the total of over Shs650Bn would have been paid to Lubowa but when you pass there, you only see cranes. To build a district hospital, you need Shs35Bn, that means so far, we have foregone 20 hospitals and we haven’t yet completed to build Lubowa,” said Kivumbi.
However, Semakula told off MPs that the threats not to approve money for Lubowa were useless and empty because when he appeared before Parliament for the approval of the promissory notes, he warned that once the deal is approved, Uganda would pay to Pinetti the moment payment falls due.
The Accountant General said, “The Lubowa promissory notes were based on owners engineer certificate and milestone completion and therefore, we issued promissory notes saying the engineer would have ascertained that the milestone would have been completed. We have actually been paying.”
It should be recalled that in March 2019, Parliament approved the request by the Ministry of Finance to issue promissory notes for the construction of a specialised hospital in Lubowa through the issuance of a promissory notes to a tune of USD379.71m approximately Shs1.393Trn.
In its glossy proposal, Government said the facility would be constructed on 32hectares in Lubowa in Wakiso district and would be divided in four zones including; clinical, education, recreation and housing zones.
The hospital was meant to carry 54 Oncology beds, 27 infectious disease beds, 27 medical beds, 16VIP beds, eight ICU beds, as well as 60 outpatient beds, 54 surgery beds, 27 paediatrics beds, 27OBGYN beds, 16 intensive Care, 8 neo-natal ICU beds and 11 operating theatres.
Enrica Pinetti is the proprietor of the hospital and had promised to construct the hospital in two years, and later run the hospital for six years before the hospital reverts back to Government.
However, three years down the road, the project is yet to take off, with Government keeping silent on the progress.
It should be noted that Government of Uganda through the Ministry of Finance recently gave the proprietor of Lubowa International Hospital more land in Namanve Industrial Park to establish a coffee processing plant.
Finance Minister Matia Kasaija said the coffee plant is expected to process 60,000 tonnes of coffee per annum at full capacity, but will start with processing 27,000 tonnes and that the company is expected to create 246 jobs for employees and skilled labourers.
