The Auditor General has asked Parliament to halt the approval of the US$190Million (Shs692.688Bn) loan from Stanbic Bank Uganda for the buyout of Umeme until the completion into the audit of the figures submitted by Umeme.
The request was made by Joseph Hirya, Director of Audit, Office of the Auditor General, while appearing before Parliament’s Committee on National Economy. This was after Ziria Tibalwa, Chief Executive Officer of Electricity Regulatory Authority informed the Committee that tentatively, the Umeme buyout amount stands at US$127 Million, although the final figure is yet to be determined.
“Let us get the figure presented finally by the Auditor General, we are requesting for a few more days, not beyond next week so that we provide the actual figures that we can defend. So, if there is some time to allow for that, because the Auditor General wouldn’t want to report on estimates. This isn’t our final report. All the reports that we submit to Parliament are signed off, after going through quality check, after going through final reviews. I would request that give us a few more days because rather than incur penalties because even the loan, you are going to pay interest. But it if better to pay the interest knowing that it is based on actual figures,” remarked Hirya.
This was after the Maracha County MP, Dennis Oguzulee asked the two entities to advise the committee on whether they should approve the loan proposal before knowing the final figure to which Hirya advised them to wait for the final report to guide them well.
This left MPs concerned about the limited time available to scrutinize the loan proposal before the Umeme concession expires on March 31st 2025 and at the same time ensuring that the government avoids penalties due to delayed payments.
