Kampala — A PROGRAMME to train procurement auditors has been launched.

The programme, which was launched by the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority (PPDA) at the Naguru AH Consulting Training Centre, is funded by the Millennium Challenge Corporation through USAID.

It is implemented by the Anti-Corruption Coalition of Uganda.

According to Cornelia Sabiti, the acting executive director of the PPDA, the project will enhance the effectiveness of the PPDA in carrying out procurement audits and investigations.

"The procurement system in Uganda faces significant challenges. One of the challenges is lack of experienced auditors. Uganda has over 200 procuring and disposing entities (PDEs)," she said.

"The PPDA Act mandates it to conduct periodic audits and investigations into the PDEs. The audits should be conducted annually, but this is not the case due to the limited number of experienced professional auditors," Sabiti said.

She said that as part of its capacity-building and support to PPDA, the Anti-Corruption Country Threshold Project (ACT) had allocated $200,000 (about sh380m) towards the procurement audits.

Sabiti said some of the funds were used to train junior staff to become members of the procurement audit team. The junior staff will form a critical human resource pool.