Sh95.4m Lira Hospital gate baffles MPs

LIRA - Members of Parliament have been stunned on learning that a hospital gate at Lira Regional Referral Hospital cost taxpayers shillings 95.4 million to construct. 

A figure majority they described as unjustified.

This transpired on Thursday, July 10, 2025, during an interaction between the House Public Accounts Committee (Central), chaired by Muhamad Muwanga Kivumbi (NUP) and officials, including the outgoing hospital director Dr Nathan Onyachi.

Discussions at the time revolved around Auditor General (AG) Edward Akol’s report on the entity for the year ended 2024.

 Documents seen by New Vision Online, indicate that the gate was built by Competent Enterprises (Uganda) Ltd. It is one of four activities flagged by the Auditor General for being outside the approved budget.

The other projects outside the approved budget are:

1. Renovation of the hospital boardroom and paving of the private wing entrance by Joztee Holdings at shillings 128.28 million

2. Renovation of the male surgical, female surgical and female medicine wards by Competent Enterprises at shillings 99.77 million

3. Refurbishment of the LIDC block by Joztee Holdings at shillings 45.88 million.

According to Regulation 2 of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets (PPDA) Procurement Planning Regulations, 2023, all procuring entities are required to have an annual procurement plan for each financial year.

While hospital officials claimed the plan was updated to accommodate these priorities, MP Muwanga Kivumbi dismissed the explanation, calling it a clear case of misprioritisation.

More so, at a time when the Auditor General’s report highlights more pressing service delivery gaps within the facility.

MP Muhamad Muwanga Kivumbi

“Can you imagine, you store medicine on the floor. Even these normal pharmacies don’t do that and even have no audacity to do pallets. These are wooden structures, that’s how despicable it is,” Muwanga Kivumbi wondered.

“They diverted money, but they could not find money to do a storage facility,” he said.
Prior to that, Mawogola South MP Gorett Namugga had asked the facility to admit whether it lacked funds to do the needful.

“At least, Entebbe was creative and soliciting donations to buy a 40 feet container to serve in the meantime as a store. If you are also limping, write to Public Accounts Committee/Central and ask for an 80 feet container. Because you seem to be having many drugs,” Namugga inquired.

Justification

However, even after the grilling, officials stuck to their guns, arguing that in so doing they saved the institute from a much bigger tragedy.

They explained that the funds used came from a performance-based bonus earned through a United States Agency for International Development (USAID) project, which had to be spent within a short timeframe or risk being returned.

“That gate was extremely necessary. There was a public road that was going right through the hospital, risking accident to patients. The road was between the OPD and in patients. It was necessary, it had been a cry for a long time that we close this road,” Onyachi contended.

“And also, for the security of hospital equipment. We were having losses of hospital property. So, the gate helped to solve that problem… The road that goes to Teso is where the gate is, that’s why it is called Teso bar gate,” he added.

He further explained that although it may seem the paving was limited to the private wing, the works actually covered the entire hospital.

"If you go to Lira now, you'll see there was previously no connectivity between the wards," Onyachi said.