Finance Ministry given 90 days to recover funds
Finance Ministry has been given 90 days to recover funds lost by Local Government accounting officers.
Public Accountability Committee of Parliament – PAC Local Government has recommended a 90-day period to the Ministry of Finance, Planning Economic Development – MoFPED to recover funds negligently lost by accounting officers of various districts, cities and municipal councils.
This follows an investigation of the Committee led by Martin Ojara Mapenduzi, the Gulu City East Division Representative following the report of the Auditor General on cross-cutting audit queries largely on the performance of salaries, gratuity and pensions by the entities for FY 2020/21.
The committee’s report recommends that the Permanent Secretary/Secretary to the Treasury – PSST in the Ministry of Finance should hold the defaulting accounting officers personally liable for authorizing advances that were unaccounted for.
The Audit report covered 49 District Local Governments, six Cities and five Municipal Councils. Singling out Kole District for instance, Mapenduzi, revealed that the Accounting Officer advanced a total of 349.5 million Shillings to staff and fuel deposits which was not accounted for, and an audit was unable to confirm whether the funds were utilized for the intended purposes.
In Masindi Municipal Council, the committee detected irregularities in the cash flow statements of 120.4 million Shillings because the advances to staff were not supported by detailed schedules and bank statements to confirm the authenticity of the figures reported in accounts.
Similarly, an Audit report revealed that Gulu District Local Government paid 39.616 million Shillings to 11 staff who had either retired, transferred services, absconded or even died; contrary to Section B-a (12) of the Uganda Public Service Standing Orders, 2010. The order requires the payment of salary to public officers to be stopped immediately they ceased rendering services to the Government.
Now, Mapenduzi explained that the Committee wants the PSST to task all the Accounting Officers, Chief Finance Officers – CFO and other respective Heads of Departments to recover the lost funds or reprimanded for contravening legal financial provisions.
In response to the report, Raphael Magyezi, the Minister for Local Government described the findings as a fair representation of what transpires in the entities and added the report will help Government to improve on management and accountability for funds meant for social service delivery.
The Audit report revealed that Gulu District did not subject political leaders’ gratuity of 36.733 million Shillings to computation of Pay As You Earn – PAYE; leading to 11 million Shillings under deduction; which led to contravention of Section 19 (1(a) of the Income Tax Act.
The report further implicated Lira District Local Government of paying 14.683 million Shillings to eight staff who had ceased rendering services to Government; contrary to Section B-a (12) of the Uganda Public Service Standing Orders, 2010.
The Committee also recommended that PSST holds the Accounting Officer personally liable for paying out 120.957 million Shillings. The report revealed variances between amounts on the approved payroll and payments to individual employees of Nakapiritpirit District Local Government, leading to underpayment of salaries worth 120.957 million Shillings.
The committee named Kitgum Municipal Council, Hoima City, Masaka City, and Gulu City among the worst-performing entities in terms of funds absorption capacity at less than 38 percent. Meanwhile, Arua City, Kitagwenda, Terego District Local Government and Madi Okollo District Local Government were the best performing.
Overall, the Audit reports indicated that 632.75 billion Shillings was approved for salaries, gratuities and pensions at the close of the FY under review. Of the amount, 610.543 billion Shillings was availed for the said purpose, however, only 571.38n was actually absorbed by the entities causing a return of 38.68n to the treasury indicating an underperformance of 6.3%o in the budget item.