Kalungu district authorities are under fire to explain the circumstances under, which a ghost teacher has been picking salary for the past sixteen years. The Public Accounts Committee on Local Governments in Parliament has tasked Prosy Nalumansi, the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) to provide a detailed report on this irregularity, which was uncovered in the Auditor General’s report for the year 2022.
In his audit report, Auditor General John F. Muwanga revealed that the district has a phantom employee who has been on the payroll for sixteen years, drawing a salary using falsified appointment details, resulting in financial loss. According to the audit report, an individual named Ssaaka Lukyamuzi, supposedly deployed as a teacher at Kyagambiddwa Secondary School in Lwabenge sub-county has been receiving an annual payment of Shillings 7.48 million.
However, Lukyamuzi has been using an appointment minute identical to that of Buruno Sserunkuma, who is a staff member in another school. During its ongoing session in Masaka city, the Committee on Public Accounts for Local Government, led by its Vice Chairperson Paul Lutamaguzi Ssemakula, the Nakaseke South MP, instructed the Kalungu district leadership to provide detailed information on how this ghost teacher has gone undetected by internal systems.
The committee also held the Chief Administrative Officer, the Human Resource Officer, and the District Chief Financial Officers responsible for not taking clear steps to recover the misappropriated funds and apprehend those involved in the conspiracy, as recommended by the Auditor General.
Despite Nalumansi’s attempt to distance herself from the irregularity by claiming that she was recently transferred to Kalungu as the Chief Administrative Officer, the Committee dismissed her excuses and gave her one week to provide information about the anomaly and a plan to recover the fraudulently paid funds.
Furthermore, the audit report also reveals that the district incurred a financial loss of 5.46 million Shillings due to salary overpayments to 20 staff members who were paid on the wrong salary scales. It was also noted that in 2023, the district made unrealistic loan deductions of 12.98 million Shillings from eight employees who had already settled all their loan obligations with different financial institutions.
Additionally, during the same period, the Accounting Officer failed to approve payroll deductions amounting to 6.29 million Shillings from 23 staff members who had salary loans. The Auditor General suggests that such irregularities can sometimes serve as deliberate loopholes for misappropriation of funds.
Meanwhile, the Committee has instructed the Kalungu district Accounting Officer to prepare a comprehensive report addressing all audit queries and providing a valid district asset register within one week. According to Luttamaguzi, there may be deliberate attempts by certain technical officers to misappropriate public funds by using transfers of accounting officers as cover.
The committee is considering recalling some staff members to respond to accountability queries from their previous duty stations.
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