The Permanent Secretary from the Ministry of Health, Dr. Asuman Lukwago, has threatened to sue companies for failing to carry out work on health centres despite being contracted with the ministry.
He said companies such as Multiplex that were given contracts to construct health centers in districts such as Isingiro, Mbarara and Kinoni have not acted according to the ministry’s expectations.
He gave an example of Kiruhura Health Center IV, which was to be expanded to become a sub hospital in 2009 but up to now has not been worked upon.
From his office in Kampala, Lukwago told Radio West about the vagary as he was explaining why some health center buildings are incomplete.
Dr. Lukwago appealed to all district leaders to report the matter to police if work is not done in time. He warned the contracted companies to act now or risk being sued by the ministry and having their contracts canceled.
During a Kiruhura district meeting on Monday, Kiruhura District chief administrative officer Joseph Mukasa told Radio West that the owners of Multiplex company’s mission is unknown. He said he had written to Multiplex but there had been no response. He confirmed that, amongst the six health centers contracted to the company, four of them have not been worked upon.
Mr Mukasa advised such companies to make partnerships with other companies to lessen their work load, which could be one of the reasons why the work was delayed.
Attempts to get a comment from the Multiplex company owner were futile.