[UAH] Agriculture ministry staff swindle billions in dirty deals - report

Agriculture ministry staff swindle billions in dirty deals - report

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By RICHARD WANAMBWA

Posted  Sunday, July 14  2013 at  01:00

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Kampala

The Auditor General has unearthed financial irregularities in the Ministry of Agriculture, creating suspicion that billions of shillings could have been lost in dubious deals.

According to a leaked 2011/12 report on the Ministry of Agriculture, it was noted that Shs16 billion spent on various activities and items was not coded under the correct item codes leading to mischarge of expenditure. The audit also revealed that Shs12 billion was paid into personal bank accounts of the 122 staff of the ministry with an individual taking at least Shs865million.

Last year, after the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) scam, ministry of Finance and Bank of Uganda issued a stern warning to government departments to desist from depositing government money into personal bank accounts.

"Depositing public funds into personal accounts of individual staff members exposes the public funds to a big risk including possibilities of unauthorised deductions of interest costs on running bank loans, mixing official activity funds with personal money meant for private purposes and the high temptation associated with handling of cash," reads a draft of the expanded scope audit report.

The report states that bank statements of individual officers could not be obtained for review and it was therefore not ascertained as to whether the funds were put to official use or private use.

"Payments made to providers of goods and services via individual personal accounts are likely to go untaxed as individual staff members might not keenly withhold taxes from such payments, thus causing loss of revenue to the government" reads part of the report.

The report reveals that despite warnings against wasteful spending, the ministry distributed Shs72 million to staff as Christmas package. "This amount was not provided for in the approved estimates of the financial year under review and was diverted off approved budget lines including maintenance of machinery, telecommunication, consultancies among others," the report states.

At least Shs2 billion was also paid to various fuel stations for fuel through Standard Chartered Bank using advanced card facility. The fuel was meant for various ministry motor vehicles, generators, boat engines and motor cycles to enable officers of the ministry to perform ministry activities. However, a review of fuel consumption statement from the bank revealed that some of the transactions involved large amounts of money drawn from fuel stations.

"Drawing amounts equal to or exceeding Shs1 million meant that the fuel so drawn was much more than normal vehicles of the ministry, including a bus, could consume at a time, and this rendered the transaction suspicious."

The report adds: "Fuel consumption schedules showing the registration numbers of vehicles involved and responsible drivers were not availed for review and it could not be ascertained whether private vehicles were not used to consume government fuel"

The audit also faults the ministry for continued engaging of blacklisted service providers whom they paid Shs1.8 billion, ignoring guidelines by the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority (PPDA) Act that empowers the authority to suspend a provider who do not comply with the Act.

"It was noted that… [the] construction of Bushenyi aquaculture research and development centre for Shs1.8 billion was signed between the ministry of agriculture, animal industry and fisheries on the one hand and Ms Liberty Construction Limited on the other. It was also noted that the works were later sub-contracted to Ms Vet-Co Uganda Limited for completion," reads the report.

However, it was established later by auditors that Ms Liberty Construction Company Limited and its director were blacklisted on November 11, 2010 by PPDA for submitting a forged certificate of Uganda National Association of Building and Civil Engineering Contractors (UNABCEC) in the Ministry of Water and Environment and for submitting forged documents to the same ministry on November 11, 2011.

According to the report, Shs100 million was received by the Agriculture ministry from Health for field implementation of Nodding Syndrome activities in Acholi Sub-region. However, whereas the recipient ministry was required to duly account to the lead ministry/Auditor General and Parliament by June 30, 2012, it was noted that by the time of audit in April 2013, no form of accountability had been submitted to the aforementioned offices.

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