Published on 20/01/2025
Parliament set to crack down on accounting officers ignoring the Auditor General’s recommendations, Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa has announced.
Tayebwa made the bold declaration while receiving the Auditor General’s 2023/2024 financial year report on January 15, 2025. He emphasized that accountability and adherence to the report are critical for national progress.
“Accounting officers who have not taken action to implement recommendations of the Auditor General are going to face it rough with us during the budgeting process. We cannot continue sitting and making declarations and they are not implemented,” Tayebwa said.
He said that chairpersons of the sectoral committees will be guided on how to hold the officers accountable.
Tayebwa also urged the Auditor General, Edward Akol to investigate and take action against alleged procurement of audit opinions in local governments.
“We request you to fight that corruption. It is known in local councils where they say it openly during meetings that part of the money was used to pay for audit opinions. Let us give the audit function the serious attention it deserves,” he said.
Akol highlighted some of the key findings in the report citing low absorption as one of the impediments to service delivery.
He explained that whereas the budget of the financial year in question was Shs64.1 trillion and Shs54 trillion warranted, only Shs47 trillion was spent.
“My assessment on a sample of 98 Ministries, Departments and Agencies’ activities for implementation revealed that 47 per cent of the outputs were fully implemented, while 51 per cent and two per cent of the outputs were partially and unimplemented, respectively,” said Akol.
He further raised a red flag on the pension audit system warning that the country faces pension liabilities, potentially exceeding Shs4.5 trillion annually by 2034, if left unchecked.
“The sustainability of our pension system faces mounting pressure from multiple fronts, such as early retirement policies, allowing early retirement at 45 years and enhanced pay from science professionals, among others,” he said.
Whilst Parliament appropriated Shs1.1 trillion for the Parish Development Model (PDM), Akol said that household data collection only stands at 79.9 per cent with a population registration at just 46.3 per cent.
“The PDM management information system started in 2021/2022 and since then, 9,366 PDM savings groups have been recorded onto the system. However, we have identified that Shs41.7 billion was disbursed outside this platform, contrary to the established guidelines,” he said.
He added that as the country prepares to implement the National Development Plan (NDPIV), it is crucial that the medium-term debt management strategy is strengthened.
