Joyce Namutebi
31 July 2008
Kampala — MPS have demanded for a list of people who have not yet refunded the money for the Global Fund for HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria, which they allegedly mismanaged.
Slightly over sh699m has been recovered from 16 institutions and individuals between April 2006 and January 30, 2008, the state minister for health, Dr. Richard Nduhuura, told the social services committee on Wednesday.
He, however, did not give the list of those who had not yet returned the money as had been requested by the committee.
The Ogoola report into the Global Fund said sh1.6b had been mismanaged. The report implicated the three ministers of health at that time, Jim Muhwezi, Mike Mukula and Alex Kamugisha and other officials. Mukula is not required to refund any money although he faces perjury charges.
DFCU Bank has so far returned the biggest amount of sh455m, according to a communication by the permanent secretary and secretary to the treasury, Chris Kassami, which Nduhuura provided to the committee.
Other institutions and individuals that have refunded the Global Fund money are the ministries of finance, education, foreign affairs and health, City Lads FC, James Batuuka and Mary Musoke, both formerly of the Project Management Unit. Ma Play, Multipurpose Art Studio and Sports for Support also refunded the money.
Nduhuura said the finance ministry had opened a suspense account on which the recovered money is deposited.
The MPs, however, demanded that the minister provides them with a list of those who have not yet returned the money and the amounts involved.
Nduhuura was part of the team of senior officials from the health ministry meeting the committee to answer questions raised on policy and budget issues.
On how the recovered money was spent, Nduhuura told the committee chaired by Rosemary Seninde (NRM) that the Global Fund secretariat had allowed them to use the money to implement approved programmes. The secretariat would offset the recovered amount from its future payment, he added.
On implementation of the Ogoola report, Nduhuura noted that the ministry had designed a long-term institutional method for channelling the Global Fund resources through budget support. The arrangement was approved by the secretariat, he said.
The MPs threatened to withhold the sh5.2b Uganda Aids Commission budget which was included in the health ministry's budget. They argued that the commission was encroaching on the ministry's budget, yet it falls under the Office of the President.
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