Speaker Presses Auditor General to Guard Against Misuse of PDM Funds

The Speaker of Parliament, Anita Among, has pressed the Auditor General to be audacious with the implementation of the Parish Development Model (PDM) and guard against misuse of funds.

“A lot of our money is going to PDM and so you should be stricter on the PDM money – the right SACCOs must be able to get the money and not the ghost ones. As the Auditor General, we need you to be very strict in terms of operationalisation of the PDM,” said Among.

Speaker Among offered guidance while receiving the Annual Auditor General’s Report to Parliament for the Financial Year 2021/2022 from, John Muwanga, the Auditor General, on Thursday, 19 January 2023. The report reveals that more than Shs594 million has not been accounted for.

“This is very important money that will help to get the local people out of poverty. It can only be of help once we use the right process,” Among said.

The report cites challenges in the implementation of the PDM including, disbursement of funds to SACCOs that were not properly registered, failure of SACCOs to utilise funds and lack of a complete database to identify the illegible beneficiaries.

The Speaker of Parliament, Anita Among (9th, left) and staff from the Office of the Auditor General and invited guests

The Assistant Auditor General (Audit), Edward Akol, said the Office of the Auditor General will henceforth conduct an annual assessment of PDM.

Akol cited other highlights of the report including the anomalies in the payroll management in local governments.

“There are glitches in the payroll management in local governments such as Shs 18 billion paid to ineligible teachers who had access to the payroll using forged documents, overpayment of salary, pension and gratuity,” said Akol.

He added that the OAG plans to conduct a payroll audit countrywide and that the findings will be in the 2023/2024 report.

Muwanga on the other hand asked Parliament to consider increasing funding to his office saying the scope of the audit has increased beyond the current capacity.

“The scope of audits has reached over 17,000 which is beyond the current capacity, the increased scope requires increased staffing and the associated additional funding,” Muwanga said at the meeting, also attended by the Clerk to Parliament, Adolf Mwesige Kasaija.