The December 2021 Auditor General’s report has revealed that a section of some local governments paid ghost workers to a tune of Shs1.12Bn.
The details were revealed by Edward Akol, Acting Assistant Auditor General-Audits while handing over the 2021 audit report to Deputy Speaker Anita Among at Parliament yesterday.
While reviewing the Local Government payroll, during the audit process, the auditors noted that the wage and pension bill for Local Governments in 2020/2021 was to a tune of Shs2.16Trn.
However of this, Shs7.32Bn was deducted from staff salaries as Pay as You Earn (PAYE) but was never remitted to Uganda Revenue Authority.
The report further highlighted that 78 Local Governments paid a total of Shs1.12Bn to 635 staff who had either retired, transferred, absconded or died hence paying for services that were not rendered causing loss of funds to Government.
Although the Auditor General limited his audit to 78 Local Governments, Uganda has 146 districts and this audit didn’t touch the over 200 Central Government entities, which gives a hint on how deeply the vice of payment of ghost workers could be.
Another review into the payroll of Local Governments observed that 48 local governments made unauthorized loans/savings deductions totaling to Shs11.1Bn from 6,835 employees that lacked letters of consent.
A further investigation indicated that of the staff supposedly deducted, 1,916 employees with deductions to a tune of Shs3.77Bn didn’t exist on the payroll.
The Audit report also revealed 2,178 newly recruited employees in 75 Local Governments delayed accessing the payroll with delays ranging between 1-34 months, yet 407 employees in 17 Local Governments hadn’t accessed the payroll by time of audit.
Its isn’t just the current staff in Local Governments that are suffering, but also the pensioners where the auditors found that 780 pensioners delayed to access their pension with delays ranging between 1-24months in 83Local Governments.
However, there were extreme incidences in 9 Local Governments who failed to access their pension for 26years.
The Auditor General also decried delays in operationalisation of new Cities, saying this has created confusion on division of assets between Councils and new cities.
