Mega Fm & Agency
The State Minister for Health in charge of General Duties, Anifa Kawooya, has urged Local Government Minister Balaam Barugahara to focus his anti-corruption campaign on major scandals affecting public services and taxpayers’ money.
Kawooya’s statements follow her visit to Gulu Regional Referral Hospital in Gulu City on Friday, where she inspected an incomplete staff housing project on which the government has invested about Shs6 billion.
The 54-unit staff accommodation project was started in 2014 and was expected to be completed and commissioned in 2017.
However, the project has remained incomplete for 12 years after the contractor, Block Technical Services Ltd, reportedly abandoned the site.
Kawooya urged Balaam to visit the hospital and conduct a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding the stalled construction of the hospital staff accommodation.
She added that the project raises questions about supervision and accountability, given the amount of public money already invested in it.
Walter Uryekwun, the Principal Assistant Secretary at Gulu Regional Referral Hospital, said the hospital management had repeatedly raised the matter with the Ministry of Health and the contractor, but the contractor requested an additional Shs3 billion to complete the works.
