The Auditor General, John Muwanga, has handed over the annual audit report for the Financial Year ending June 2023, to the Speaker of Parliament, Rt Hon Anita Among.
In the report, AG Muwanga detailed how government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) spent the money that was allocated to them in FY 2022/23.
The Office of the Auditor General undertook a special audit of the salary payroll across the government, where it validated all employees in 367 entities comprising 162 MDAs, 179 Local Governments and 29 other Government organisations in February 2023.
The Auditor General recommended the recovery of Shs53bn from 10,192 ‘ghost workers’ who had been on the government payroll, but during the verification exercise in February 2023, these were found to have died, retired or absconded from duty.
The Auditor General has revealed that 5,619,120 COVID-19 vaccines valued at Shs28.159bn, expired in the stores of National Medical Stores (NMS), yet the vaccines were bought by a loan from the World Bank.
“Out of 12,595,920 doses of COVID-19 vaccines in stores, 5,619,120 doses had expired. The expired COVID-19 value of the vaccines as at reporting date was worth,” read the report.
He said more expired vaccines still lie in various health facilities across the country and the total combined loss to be incurred next year is estimated at Shs300bn.
“These are vaccines procured out of the World Bank loan advanced for COVID-19 support,” read in part of the report.
The report shows that in the Financial Year 2022/2023, Parliament appropriated an initial budget of Shs48.132trillion which was later revised to Shs52.548 trillion through supplementary budgets of Shs4.416 trillion to finance government expenditure
The Auditor General also revealed that Uganda’s total public debt as of 30th June 2023 stood at Shs96.168Trn, comprising of domestic debt stock of Shs43.696Trn and external debt stock of Shs52.472Trn, with the report noting that Uganda’s debt in five years has increased by 107%.
Speaker Among who received the report alongside the new Leader of Opposition in Parliament, Hon Joel Ssenyonyi, said the submission of this report marks the beginning of Parliamentary scrutiny for which she undertakes to ensure timeliness in line with Article 163 (5) of the Constitution that requires Parliament to pronounce itself on the report of the Auditor General within 6 months.
“As you may be aware, the 11th Parliament has effectively prevented the accumulation of a backlog of unconsidered reports of the Auditor General.
As Parliament, we are committed to effectively playing our role in the Public Finance and Accountability cycle so as to enable greater transparency and accountability in the management of public resources,” she noted.
Among urged the other players in the Public Finance and Accountability cycle to effectively play their roles too given that effective accountability requires collective effort.
“I appreciate the Auditor General for maintaining a fully functional Parliamentary liaison unit that renders effective support to the Public Accounts Committees. I hope for the continuity of this productive collaboration for the good of our country.”