{UAH} Govt blows Shs2.8b relief cash on administrative costs

Govt blows Shs2.8b relief cash on administrative costs

Saturday August 07 2021

Premier Robinah Nabbanja (centre) and other government officials during the launch of the disbursement of Covid relief cash for vulnerable Ugandans at the Office of the Prime Minister in Kampala on July 8. PHOTO/A. Lubowa

Summary

• A junior Finance minister appearing before PAC on Wednesday could not give a breakdown of how the money was spent.

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By Arthur Arnold Wadero

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Government has splashed at least Shs2.8 billion on administrative costs during the registration and verification of the vulnerable persons meant to benefit from the Shs100,000 per head Covid cash relief.

The cash relief was meant to cushion vulnerable Ugandans (wananchi) during the 42-day-long lockdown to stop the spiraling infections, hospital admissions, and deaths from the second wave of Covid-19.

The revelation was made by junior Finance minister in-charge of General Duties, Mr Henry Musasizi, who appeared before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Wednesday.

The issue

The MPs are scrutinising government lists of people who benefitted from the Shs100,000 Covid relief fund.

Mr Musasizi said whereas his ministry released Shs53b, a total of Shs2.854b was washed away on administrative costs.

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"The ministry of Finance has so far released Shs53.5b, out of which Shs2.854b was for administrative expenditure, including mobile money transfer costs and Shs50.645b was transferred to Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development account in Post Bank to facilitate direct transfers to the beneficiaries," Mr Musasizi said.

The submission prompted Gulu Municipality MP Martin Ojara Mapenduzi to demand Mr Musasizi to furnish PAC members with actual breakdown of the expenditure incurred on administration of the fund.

"Can you try to be specific and give us the breakdown on transfer costs and how much was spent on other administrative expenditures? How much did each of the telecom companies charge in terms of transfer costs?" Mr Ojara demanded.

But Mr Musasizi pleaded with the committee members to allow him more time to prepare the breakdown in expenditures and return with the required details.

The inquiry into the cash expenditure follows a directive of the Deputy Speaker, Ms Anita Among, who a fortnight ago directed that PAC scrutinises the list of beneficiaries submitted to Parliament by Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja.

There had emerged several gaps in the disbursement of the Covid cash relief.

The committee is, among others, expected to verify the beneficiaries, establish the exact number of people that received the Shs100,000, inquire into the process used to generate the list of beneficiaries and also understand the policy that government premised on to disburse the said cash during the 42-day national lockdown.

Beneficiaries

Disbursement

Statistics from the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development indicates that as of August 2, at least 500,994 of the targeted 501,107 (99.9 per cent) beneficiaries had been uploaded on the system. Of these, only 481,569 (96.1 per cent) had been verified and paid by Post Bank by the fall of Monday. This implies Shs49.87b had been disbursed to the beneficiaries.

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