Overview:
Finasi/ISHU says safety rules kept Ssenyonyi and opposition MPs out of the Lubowa hospital site, despite reports of a minister's letter approving the visit.
KAMPALA – The company building the International Specialised Hospital of Uganda (ISHU) in Lubowa says it turned away opposition MPs from the construction site this week because it had not received formal notice of their visit from the Ministry of Health.
In a statement issued in Kampala on Friday, Finasi/ISHU said the project agreements require all site visits to be coordinated through the ministry. This allows safety, security and insurance arrangements to be made in line with international health, safety and environment standards.
The statement follows an incident on Wednesday in which the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, Joel Ssenyonyi, and several members of the shadow cabinet were denied access to the construction site. When the legislators arrived, the main gate was locked, and security personnel inside made several phone calls but did not clear them to enter.
According to Finasi/ISHU, it first heard from the Leader of the Opposition about the planned visit on the afternoon of Thursday, 10 September. The company said such notice would ordinarily come from the Ministry of Health as the government’s representative, and that it raised the matter with the ministry promptly.
It said formal notification from the ministry had not arrived by the time the delegation reached the site. Because the hospital is still an active construction site, it added, visitors’ names and numbers must be confirmed in advance so that protective equipment can be prepared. Without those details, the company said it could not safely receive and guide the MPs.
Charles Byaruhanga, the company’s chief operating officer, said Finasi/ISHU understood the public interest in the project.
“This was not about preventing access or avoiding accountability,” he said.
“FINASI/ISHU remains ready to facilitate properly coordinated visits once formal notification is received through the Ministry of Health in reasonable time, and the necessary preparations have been completed.”
The company’s account differs from media reports of the correspondence before the visit. Mr Ssenyonyi had notified Finasi-ISHU Construction SPV Limited on 9 September of the MPs’ intention to visit, and Mr Byaruhanga then asked the Ministry of Health whether the visit should go ahead.
In a reply dated 10 September, Health Minister Dr Chris Baryomunsi directed the contractor to facilitate a guided tour for the MPs at 10:00 on 16 September, on condition that they complied with health and safety requirements. The company’s statement does not refer to that letter.
Mr Ssenyonyi said he contacted Dr Baryomunsi and the state minister for health, Dr Charles Ayume, after being refused entry, but their intervention did not get the MPs into the site.
He questioned how Parliament could properly scrutinise a publicly funded project when legislators were repeatedly prevented from independently assessing construction progress. He also urged the government to extend its anti-corruption drive to projects involving large amounts of public money.
It is not the first dispute over access to the site. In February 2024, opposition MPs led by Mr Ssenyonyi were stopped at the gate by police and soldiers. In August 2019, Parliament’s National Economy Committee, together with then Health Minister Dr Jane Ruth Aceng and Permanent Secretary Diana Atwine, was also blocked from the site.
In 2019, the government approved a $379m loan guarantee for the hospital’s construction.
Finasi/ISHU said it remained committed to working with the government to complete the hospital and begin providing specialised healthcare services.