Joel Ogwang
12 November 2008
Kampala — The Mukono district public accounts committee, has ordered Vincent Mutebi, the chief accountant, to refund or recover sh371.6m which remains unaccounted for.
During the committee meeting last Friday, Lydia Kiwanuka, the vice-chairperson and Lawrence Lubanga, a member of the committee, noted that there were neither documents, nor minutes sanctioning the expenditures.
The query over the money was raised by the Auditor General (AG), James Muwanga, in the 2005/06 fiscal year report.
The auditor general noted that the sh371.6m, released by the finance ministry, was to clear salary arrears and lunch allowances, but had doubtful expenditures "as no accountability was attached to confirm receipt of payment by intended beneficiaries."
Mutebi's explanation that the money was directed to the CAO's office, with accountability made to the finance ministry fell on deaf ears.
Lubanga said: "This was district funds; if there are no documents (of accountability) left in Mukono, how did the AG's probe find-out that the funds were sent to the district?"
There was more drama in the meeting, as Mutebi produced about 10 huge files claiming they were records of expenditure.
Kiwanuka said the move was a manoeuvre to hoodwink the committe. "How do you expect us to go through all those files? Couldn't you summarise the expenditures?" she asked.
Mutebi said the clerk to council, one Mayanja, was absent moments before the meeting, prompting Kiwanuka to interject: "PAC is not here to witch-hunt anyone. In fact, to ease your work, you should first present accountability to us, before you go to parliament."
When he surfaced, Mayanja was ordered to go to parliament to collect records of accountability. "You have to recover that (sh371.6m) money, or refund it" Lubanga told Mutebi.
The probe into the sh371.6m pay-out is an effort to uncover one of the mysteries surrounding the sh1.8b unaccounted for, in the 2005/06 financial year.
Other queries raised by the AG are:
lThe AG noted that sh305.9m meant to be transferred to schools under the Universal Primary Education scheme, was spent at the district headquarters.
lsh55.8m paid-out to officers to carry out activities under the free-primary education, was unaccounted for.
-Also querried was sh15.5m, said to have been fraudulently spent on inflated pupils' enrolment for examinations papers.
-sh262.2m which had no payment vouchers
-Capitation grants amounting to sh119.9m meant for government-aided secondary schools in the district.
While the duo noted that accountability of the expenditures was an oversight, they recommended that Solomon Ssonko, the former CAO and his successor, Edward Galabuzi (now Rakai CAO), be summoned to explain the expenditures.
This plea was dismissed and the two given a week to account for the monies.
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