Kampala — LOANS totalling to over sh9.433b which the Government gave out as entandikwa (start-up capital) are still unpaid.

Out of the sh9.92b loaned out under the scheme, to various people through the Ministry of Gender and Labour, only sh358m has been recovered.

According to the Auditor General's (AG) report on public accounts presented to Parliament for the year that ended June 30, 2005 the gender ministry accounting officer explained that the recovery of the loans is still very poor due to lack of funding and logistics in the ministry. The AG's report indicates that the gender ministry borrowed over sh320m, part of the funds meant for the scheme to finance other ministry's activities, which the ministry has failed to reimburse. The gender ministry was in charge of the entandikwa until the portfolio was shifted to the finance ministry. The ministry could give out money in cash or kind. The money in question dates back to the 2003/4 financial year, from previous years.

An official explained that since the scheme was transferred to the Ministry of Finance, it should be the finance ministry to recover the outstanding amount.

The AG queried sh230m outstanding in advances the gender ministry gave out to various officers who were to carry out various activities. The ministry without the treasury authority incurred excess expenditure of sh863m on two programmes, the headquarters sh804m and sh58m was spent on youth, children and poverty eradication.

The ministry, without authority, also diverted sh92m meant for various projects to purchase motor vehicles yet there were no budgetary provisions for the purchase of vehicles in the individual project accounts.