By SOLOMON ARINAITWE & DEAR JEANNE
Posted
Saturday, November 3
2012 at
02:00
KAMPALA
An internal audit report into the operations of
the National Agricultural Advisory Services has exposed gross
mismanagement, wasteful expenditure and unaccounted for funds at the
government agency charged with modernising rural agriculture.
The report comes at a time government is still
reeling from grand corruption at the Office of the Prime Minister amid
donors freezing aid to the country.
In a scam with the hallmarks of the OPM scandal,
the report established “that several officers were advanced money
totaling over Shs1.9b to implement project related activities which
remained unaccounted for at the time of audit. [However] The Treasury
Accounting Instructions under paragraph 215 to 217 requires officers to
account for money advanced to them within 60 days from the date of
payment”.
By the time the audit report was printed, Ministry
of Agriculture had not responded to the audit queries. Our efforts to
reach them by press time were unsuccessful. But it also emerged through
the audit that the ministry commissioned Avian and Human Influenza
Project designed to start four years “effective 1st July 2008 and ending
on 30th June 2012 did not happen as the Project commencement delayed by
two years and only began operations in June 2010 when the first
disbursement of funds by the donor was received”
“The risk of delay to start the project leads to
government incurring commitment fees for the period the funds were not
used. The delayed implementation may lead to failure to procure some
items as the costs keep going up due to inflation,” the report adds.
Under the project, despite designing a work plan
which called for identification and support of five high risk districts
vulnerable to the poultry and human influenza virus, there was no report
showing that this exercise had taken place. However, the report adds
that “a review of expenditure indicated that more than Shs25m was
advanced for this activity,”
Perhaps, showing the dire consequences that may
arise out of the botched project, the report casts a grim picture on the
“intended objectives of strengthening national preparedness and
response to threat of both the highly pathogenic Avian influenza in
poultry and human pandemic influenza in human beings.”
However, though the report notes that a “number of
motor vehicles and motorcycles were given to officials to help in the
implementation of project activities. To the contrary, it was noted that
the District chairmen and CAOs would always use project vehicles for
activities unrelated to the project,”
Under the Avian and Human Influenza Project,
Quarantine centres and checkpoints to avoid uncontrolled movement of
livestock. However, the centres have not been developed except “an old
structure in Kasese District that was built by Kasese [Local Government]
as a quarantine centre which was not being used since it was abandoned
several years back”.
However, despite the low absorption rate, the government continued injecting money in the project.
By July 2012, disbursement received was only $3m
out of the planned $10m. “With the impending closure of the project,
there is a risk that all the money will not be released but the
government continues to incur commitment fees,” the report notes.
Employers of the project were remitting PAYE and
Withholding Tax were being deducted by the project, with no evidence
that the taxes were received by URA. In another damning expose, the
report reveals that government vehicles were driven by [private] garage
owners.
“On several occasions this vehicle has been seen
packed at night at places that do not portray a good image for the
ministry. There was no record to show that the Ministry has asked the
garage owner to return this vehicle. There is a likelihood that this
vehicle could be lost or number plates changed in favour of the garage
owner,” the report says.
editorial@ug.nationmedia.com
accessed on Saturday 3 Nov. 2012 from: http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/NAADS++Sh2b+sent+to+personal+accounts/-/688334/1610008/-/5y88pyz/-/index.html
