Museveni willing to finance Dei Biopharma plant completion — State House

WAKISO - Officials from State House have assured the Dei Biopharma founder and proprietor, Dr. Mathias Magoola, that President Yoweri Museveni is willing and ready to provide all the funds required to complete the drugs and vaccines plant in Matugga, Wakiso district.

The company, Magoola says, needs sh1.736 trillion to complete the multibillion project to start full production.

The entire investment is projected to cost sh4 trillion, and so far, sh2.5 trillion has been raised, but the company needs the Government to provide the remaining funds to enable it to go into massive production.

During an interaction after the tour of the facility, the team described what they saw as massive. (All Photos by Eddie Ssejjoba)

“The beauty is that President Museveni is willing to give you all the balance you need to complete this project, but this money will be given progressively as work progresses,” the science ministry undersecretary Peter Ourien said.

He was part of the state house team, led by the Comptroller, Jane Barekye, who also serves as the permanent secretary.

The team visited the Matugga plant on Wednesday. Others were senior presidential advisors on audit and accountability Dr. Herbert Kawawa, and Brenda Nakazibwe, the team lead of pathogen economy in the science ministry.

Museveni officially commissioned the construction of the state-of-the-art pharmaceutical and biotech facility in July 2021 with the then deputy and now current President of Kenya, William Ruto.

During an interaction after the tour of the facility, the team described what they saw as massive.

“We are here to establish whether money plus output are equal and to create a relationship between money and expenditure,” Barekye said.

She said her team would return to the facility and do an audit. She however, said she was impressed with what she has so far seen and pledged to visit the Kamuli starch factory as well.

Magoola said he is willing to provide accountability as requested. “I am aware that once you take taxpayers’ money you have to account for it,” he said.

Providing accountability, according to Magoola, would also help to reduce the tension and educate people who did not have the chance to visit the facility in order for them to explain in detail how they were utilising the money.

Magoola thanked President Museveni and Energy Minister Dr. Monica Musenero for boosting his cassava starch plant in Kamuli, which has enabled it to embark on full-scale production

The plant is designed to process cassava into pharmaceutical-grade starch needed as raw materials for the manufacture of drugs and vaccines.

At Matugga, Magoola explained, insufficient power supply has been a big challenge, and they have been forced to keep some machines and production lines idle to enable others to run, which has often affected their capacity.

“Power supply has been one of our biggest challenges; some of our production lines and machines are always rendered idle because they cannot run at full capacity since the power supply is insufficient,” Magoola said.

Once they receive the dedicated power line, he said, the factories would embark on full-capacity production, and this would require him to hire more people to increase their manpower. 

He hoped the power issues would be sorted by the end of this month.

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Providing accountability, according to Magoola, would also help to reduce the tension and educate people who did not have the chance to visit the facility in order for them to explain in detail how they were utilising the money. (All Photos by Eddie Ssejjoba)