SH1.8 BILLIONS STOLEN FROM UGANDA’S TREASURY

Information streaming in from Ministry of Finance is that sh1, 827, 390,736 has been siphoned from Uganda’s Treasury, effected on the IFMS in four Local Government entities.

The “smart thieves” in the Kampala Street lingo, reportedly hacked the system known as IFMS (Integrated Financial Management System), which the Ministry of Finance developed to curb such theft.

According to the Anti-Corruption Committee, Secretary to the Treasury, Keith Muhakanizi and Account General Lawrence Ssemakula reported this theft.

In effect, therefore the anti-graft unit posted this on twitter: “This afternoon, I am following a complaint received from the Secretary to Treasury Mr.Keith Muhakanizi and Account General Mr. Semakula Lawrence who whistle blew the theft of sh1,827,390,736 effected on the IFMS in four Local Government entities.”

Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS) is a system used by the Ministry of Finance to register supplier/employee in electronic registration.  The system portal also helps you track the status of your application, allows you to amend your existing payment details on IFMS.

This eRegistration portal helps you submit your Payment details to Your respective Ministry/Agency/Local Government for approval and to Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development for set up on IFMS

The IFMS has been implemented in a phased manner to ensure success and to provide GOU with a process of effectively and efficiently managing the transition from the current state to the future desired state. Some of the key Principles applied were:

1. Central Acquisition of the system adopted
2. Central Management of the system agreed on

iii.            Decentralized ownership of data

1. A Turnkey Concept was adopted

Pilot implementation was conducted in 6 ministries and 4 local governments between February 2003 and October 2004. Rollout implementation has since progressed to another 12 Ministries and 6 Local Governments and will conclude December 2006.

In the Pilot and on-going Rollout implementation phases, the IFMS has focused on key Expenditure Management Systems that include the:

1. Accounting and Reporting (General Ledger),
2. Budgeting, Purchasing and Commitment Accounting,

iii.            Payments,

1. Cash Management and Revenue Receipting/Accounts Receivable.
2. Purchasing
3. Public Sector Budgeting including Activity Based Costing and OFA

The Fixed Asset Management, Inventory Control and Debt Management modules will be implemented at a later stage. Government recognises the need for increased efforts in revenue collection activities for Local Governments. Plans for the acquisition of a Local Government Revenue Module (LGRM) are under review.