Africa-Press – Uganda. Mayuge District Local Government and an area Non-government Organisation (NGO) called Friendly Hands are sucked into a fight over Bwalula Health Centre II, located in Bugunda Village, Kigandalo Sub-county.
The facility was constructed in 1981, when the community partnered with Friendly Hands to extend health services to the area.
Mr Muhamood Maata, one of the residents, said in 1997, Friendly Hands entered into an agreement with Iganga District Local Government, before Mayuge was carved out of it, with an aim of improving service delivery.
Subsequently, Mr Maata said, Iganga District started equipping the health facility with equipment and human resources as a government facility; however, a disagreement erupted when some money was allocated for its rehabilitation.
“Rehabilitation kicked off, but we were shocked when Iganga District officials came and started de-roofing the staff quarters that they had rehabilitated and relocated them to Isenda Village in Kigandalo Sub-county under the same names,’’ Mr Maata said on Monday.
Mr Waiswa Nabihamba, the Kigandalo Sub-county Speaker, says they resolved not to renovate the building because the District doesn’t have a land title.
“The contractor had started renovating the staff quarters, but we later discovered that we don’t own a land title and the government cannot construct a health facility on someone else’s land,’’ he said.
According to Mr Nabihamba, the staff quarters were constructed on three acres of land donated by the Muslim community of Isenda Village, adding that they plan to construct an outpatient department on the new site in the next financial year once they get money.
Mr David Zijja, the Secretary for Health and Education in Mayuge District, says at the time, the Chief Administrative Officer advised them not to use money on the land whose ownership the District lacked.
“We asked for another piece of land and the Islamic community provided one with an agreement, and we started construction after we received information that the founder of Friendly Hands had refused to hand over the land title to the District,” Mr Zijja added.
But the Friendly Hands founder, Dr Samuel Luboga, says he started the health unit around 1981 with five other friends, three of whom have since passed away, after realising that the area had no health services.
According to Dr Luboga, they talked to the Iganga District Health officer (DHO), requesting for support for the health unit, which he reportedly gave in the form of medical supplies and some health workers, which have sustained the facility for the past 42 years.
“When Mayuge District was carved out from Iganga, the health unit shifted to the former, including the supplies and health workers’ salaries. We then requested for some resources for its refurbishment because its structures were aging,” Dr Luboga said.
Dr Luboga says he wants the facility to remain at its current location so that residents continue getting services.
The Deputy Inspector General of Government (IGG), Ms Anne Muhairwe, to whose attention the matter was brought, advised the district leadership to sit with Dr Luboga and resolve the issue amicably.
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