MPs query payments to Protea hotel
THE parliamentary select committee on CHOGM is investigating circumstances under which Protea Hotel Entebbe, located in Bwebajja on Entebbe Road, received sh2b from the Government.
By Joyce Namutebi
THE parliamentary select committee on CHOGM is investigating circumstances under which Protea Hotel Entebbe, located in Bwebajja on Entebbe Road, received sh2b from the Government.
The committee, chaired by Onyango Kakoba (Buikwe North), also wants to know whether the hotel housed CHOGM visitors.
Kakoba yesterday said they would meet Ministry of Finance officials to clarify on the matter.
The hotel was given sh2b in a joint venture with the Government. According to an agreement dated October 24, 2007, between the Ministry of Finance and J and M Airport Road Hotel Apartments, the company was to operate Protea Hotel Entebbe. The hotel was one of the proposed venues for hosting various CHOGM activities.
“The Government of Uganda would like to ensure that the hotel will be ready to host the said activities by injecting capital into the company,†the agreement said.
Sam Nahamya, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Tourism, Trade and Industry, told the committee that the hotel had been listed on the CHOGM website for anybody interested to book.
Without naming any hotels, Nahamya concurred with Kabarole district Woman MP Margaret Muhanga that no delegates slept in some of the ‘CHOGM hotels’ in which the Government made advance payments for rooms.
The MPs were stunned to hear that sh501m was spent on building the cultural village consisting of 16 traditional huts. The village is situated at the Uganda Museum at Kitante.
However, hardly two months after the Commonwealth meeting, some of the huts were leaking, while others were being eaten by insects.
THE parliamentary select committee on CHOGM is investigating circumstances under which Protea Hotel Entebbe, located in Bwebajja on Entebbe Road, received sh2b from the Government.
The committee, chaired by Onyango Kakoba (Buikwe North), also wants to know whether the hotel housed CHOGM visitors.
Kakoba yesterday said they would meet Ministry of Finance officials to clarify on the matter.
The hotel was given sh2b in a joint venture with the Government. According to an agreement dated October 24, 2007, between the Ministry of Finance and J and M Airport Road Hotel Apartments, the company was to operate Protea Hotel Entebbe. The hotel was one of the proposed venues for hosting various CHOGM activities.
“The Government of Uganda would like to ensure that the hotel will be ready to host the said activities by injecting capital into the company,†the agreement said.
Sam Nahamya, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Tourism, Trade and Industry, told the committee that the hotel had been listed on the CHOGM website for anybody interested to book.
Without naming any hotels, Nahamya concurred with Kabarole district Woman MP Margaret Muhanga that no delegates slept in some of the ‘CHOGM hotels’ in which the Government made advance payments for rooms.
The MPs were stunned to hear that sh501m was spent on building the cultural village consisting of 16 traditional huts. The village is situated at the Uganda Museum at Kitante.
However, hardly two months after the Commonwealth meeting, some of the huts were leaking, while others were being eaten by insects.