This is how this money will be paid, according to Bahati. The facility, to be called International Specialized Hospital of Uganda (ISHU), will be constructed in a period of two years.
For the next eight years after its completion, nobody will be referred abroad for treatment. The money meant for treatment abroad will be included in the budget of ministry of Health and passed on to the owner of this hospital.
Minister Bahati pleaded with deputy speaker Jacob Oulanyah to have the decision on this huge amount of taxpayers’ money taken immediately. He said many agreements with the investor have already been signed. One such agreement is that government will issue promissory notes confirming that it will pay about Shs 1.4 trillion.
Government, Bahati said, “has defaulted on its obligations under the Project Agreements by failing to issue promissory notes within the stipulated time.” As a result, he reported, the investor has issued a Notice of Default on January 30, 2019 and there is a possibility of losing money in this deal.
Both the Constitution and the Public Finance and Management Act require such a transaction to be approved by parliament. What the government did was to get the attorney general pen a legal opinion claiming that since there were mere promissory notes, parliamentary approval was not a requirement.
They had quietly concluded a Shs 1.4 trillion deal involving tax-payers’ money until they hit a snag. That is how Bahati came running to parliament. I think New Vision is the only media house that gave the opposition a spirited fight against this grand theft in parliament prominent coverage.
The rest of the media concentrated on an emotional but worthless debate on Miss Curvy beauty contest. And that, Miss Curvy, is what we have aggressively and emotionally debated as a country. Even people I know to be immoral joined the fray pretending to be defending the integrity of women’s bodies.
David Bahati and other senior government officials are born-again Christians but the things they do, I am surprised the Church has not ex-communicated them. Their boss Gen Yoweri Museveni is extremely vulnerable. If you have a following, he can shield you from anything.
You remember how he offered his chopper to fly Gaetano (Kaggwa) to Soroti for a state banquet on his return from Big Brother in South Africa. Gaetano was with Abbey, the girl he had televised sex with in the Big Brother House. But because many immoral people received him at the airport, His Excellency the President honoured him the way he honoured swimsuit expert Quiin Abenakyo.
If Museveni’s junior minister collects women who have curves all over their bodies, where is the hullaballoo?
Senior editors in all newsrooms should help us frame the right themes for debate. Next week Inshalah, I will be writing about Bobi Wine, Dr Kizza Besigye and the unguided debate about the 2021 general election.
As usual, even this debate is being distorted at an early stage. The 2021 elections are being framed as a contest against Gen Yoweri Museveni yet they are not.
Let us face it, we are all captives. The man captured our country and the state. He dispenses the state the way he likes. He has turned our country into an estate he inherited from his parents. The government is a private company hired to run this estate.
Nigeria’s Electoral Commission can delay elections even to the annoyance of President Buhari. Dr Badru Kiggundu delayed nominations in 2010 because Museveni was still sorting out his internal NRM issues.
Empowering citizens to liberate the state and all her institutions is the struggle we are involved in. All elections organized under Museveni are against the state which he is using against us. That is what we must prepare for and this work requires total commitment.
semugs@yahoo.com
The author is Kira Municipality MP and opposition chief whip in parliament.