Edward Akol, Uganda’s Auditor General
The Office of the Auditor General (OAG) wants UGX94.819Bn to hire extra staff to deal with the Office’s expanding mandate, purchase new vehicles and carryout specialised audits into the Parish Development Model and oil and gas extractives.
The request was made by Stephen Katerega, Assistant Auditor General, Corporate Services, Office of Auditor General, on 21st January 2026, while appearing before Parliament’s Finance Committee, to present the 2026/27 National Budget Framework Paper.
“Our prayer is that if we can be availed an additional UGX39Bn, we shall be able to recruit at least 300 additional staff. This should cover wage, non-wage and other related costs. Currently, we are around 600 staff, but our establishment should be around 1,800. The 1,800 staff is really to cover the whole audit population that we are supposed to audit, including all sub-counties, schools, and the like,” Katerega said.
The OAG urged Parliament to ensure that the ban imposed by Government against the purchase of vehicles is also lifted, as this has left the entity grappling with an old fleet, despite most of the work being field-based.
“Then the issue of motor vehicles is very critical. I think because of the ban on the procurement and acquisition of vehicles, we have not been able to replace our fleet in the last three or four years. Almost 70% of our fleet requires a replacement. Field vehicles require UGX7Bn, if we can have at least an additional 20 or 24 vehicles, it will really help us address this problem,” he said.
Paul Omara (Otuke County) defended the request for new vehicles citing the nature of work that Auditors undertake that involves moving across the country noting, “The kind of audits that the team are doing are so many, and therefore they need to travel, they need to move. So, in terms of the fleet of vehicles that you need, they should be supported so that at least they can move and do their job.”
The same sentiments were shared by Emely Kugonza (Buyanja East) who argued that much of the work of the Auditor General’s Office is action oriented as over 95% of this is done in the field and if Government does not provide resources, then it is actually failing itself.
