Security Authorities in Kabale district have demolished illegal structures erected on the land belonging to Kabale Regional Referral Hospital to pave the way for the construction of an Intensive Care Unit (ICU). According to the authorities, the structures were illegally built on the hospital land in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
In early September 2023, the hospital built the construction of a Shillings 8.58 billion ICU project to provide timely and specialized health services to patients. However, the contractors HASO Engineers Company Limited failed to start work after it was established that the land where the facility is designed to be established hosts illegal structures. Investigations indicated that the individuals, some of them identified as Medard Happines Mabale and Charles Rwanika alias Majugo, all prominent businessmen in Kabale district had acquired land comprising plots number 38 and 40 along Jackson road in Makanga hill.
Happiness fraudulently bought the land from the late Dr. Biryabarema while Majugo got it from his wife whose name was withheld by security. The duo were health workers at Kabale Regional Referral Hospital. Godfrey Nyakahuma, the Kabale Resident District Commissioner, Godfrey Mutabazi, the District Internal Security Officer, and Abel Ruganza, Kabale District Police Commander on Wednesday afternoon led an operation to demolish the illegal structures and evict the squatters.
Majugo declined to comment on the matter when contacted by our reporter. Happiness admitted the mistake, saying that he was hoodwinked by the late Dr. Biryabarema to buy the land on the grounds that the hospital management wouldn’t discover the deal.
