BY ZALIMON BASIGHALHA (GOOD LUCK)
The State Minister of ICT and National Guidance, Hon. Godfrey Baluku Kabbyanga has publicly revealed that he has forgiven the Kasese Municipality Member of Parliament over his statements indicating that the Junior Minister is behind the downfall of Kilembe Mines Hospital.
Last Friday when the Government Assurance and Implementation Committee of Parliament led by its Chairperson, Hon. Joyce Bagala, the Mityana District Woman Member of Parliament visited Kasese District, Hon. Ferigo Kambale did not hide to mention that Minister Kabbyanga was behind the downfall of Kilembe Mines Hospital.
This was after Dr. Bernard Balyana, the Medical Superintendent at Kilembe Mines Hospital had told the committee members in his report that the facility which formerly had 82 health workers is currently being manned by 14 medical staff following the recent withdrawal of 68 government employees.
Responding to the issue, Mr. Zedekiya Kambasu Kayiri, the Kasese Municipal Deputy Town Clerk explained that they were forced to make some transfers and redeployments of staff to the cost centres as guided by the government policy and according to him, Kilembe Mines Hospital is not on the list of cost centres, hence making it ineligible to have employees who are on government payroll.
His statements did not please the political wing including Hon. Ferigo Kambale, who said he was disappointed with the technical wing for withdrawing the health workers from the health facility.
Hon. Kambale clearly stated that the Municipal Technical Wing was being influenced by external forces especially from the Minister Kabbyanga to have the health workers on government payroll withdrawn from Kilembe Mines Hospital.
Responding to Hon. Kambale’s accusations against him, Minister Kabbyanga today morning told the press at Shiloh Hotel in Kasese town that he was disappointed with the legislator when he heard such statements against him.
According to him, he had instructed his legal team to file a case against the Member of Parliament so that he defends himself in the Courts of Law. Kabbyanga described Hon. Kambale’s statements as baseless and uncalled for.
Minister Kabbyanga noted that after praying to God for guidance and divine mercy, he decided to forgive Hon. Kambale and has since instructed his legal team to stop pursuing the matter.
He used the same platform to caution his fellow politicians to avoid uttering baseless statements against their competitors for their personal interests, arguing that the act might cause conflicts and clashes among the voters.
Despite the counter –accusations, the Government Assurance and Implementation Committee of Parliament on Friday assured the population that they would advocate for the reactivation of Kilembe Mines Hospital, stressing that their work was to ensure that the citizens receive quality services from government.
ENDS