Defeated MP donates health centre building as farewell gift to constituency

Kyotera, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Christopher Kalemba, the outgoing Member of Parliament for Kakuuto County has donated a building to house a health centre in Kyakatuuma village, Mutukula town council.

According to Kalemba, he had to hand over the structure in time, in preparation for his departure in June. The handover took place on Sunday at a farewell ceremony held at Kyakatuuma, a village bordering Tanzania.

The building contains five treatment rooms, a pharmacy room, a reception, and a waiting area. Once completed, Kalemba says it will be equipped with solar power to provide light.

He says the health centre is meant to improve primary healthcare in the area even in his absence. He explains that he had promised Kyakatuuma residents a health centre which he never wanted to leave unfulfilled. He adds that the village was struggling to access health services in time since they would trek over 15 km to reach Mutukula health centre III.

However, he did not specify when and how the structure will be equipped and staffed to become a real health centre.

Kalemba, the National Resistance Movement (NRM) candidate lost to musician Geoffrey Lutaaya of the National Unity Platform (NUP) in the Kakuuto County parliamentary race. He got 8,313 votes while Lutaaya scored 10,065 votes and declared the winner by Koreb Nahamya, the district registrar.    Although Kalemba’s supporters are pestering him to go to court to challenge Lutaaya’s victory due to the alleged malpractices and election violence, Kalemba has insisted on staying calm to give Lutaaya room to serve Kakuuto residents.

In his remarks, Kalemba says his time of service has taught him several lessons about human nature.     He adds that people hated him at the last hour in spite of several projects he put in place to help them.

However, residents mainly women have thanked Kalemba for the donation saying the health centre will save them the burden of trekking long distances to receive treatment. Margaret Ayine, a Village Health Team (VHT) coordinator in Kyakatuuma says several elderly people on Anti-Retroviral Treatment -ART find it hard due to lack of a health centre in the area. She explains that some could miss their drugs due to lack of transport from to Mutukula.

Madina Nazziwa, another resident says they are grateful for the donation and appealed to the government to provide health workers, beds, and drugs in order to make the centre fully functional.

She says several patients have on several occasions collapsed on the way to Mutukula to get treatment adding that they were longing for a health centre in their village.

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