The office of the President has returned to the Treasury over Shs2bn that was allocated to it to fight COVID-19.
The revelation was made by Secretary to the Office of the President, Yunus Kakande while appearing before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) today.
Kakande said they failed to utilize the money within the allocated time frame, prompting the officials to return the funds.
It should be recalled that Parliament in April 2020 passed a supplementary budget of Shs300bn to help Government combat the spread of COVID-19 in the country, with the Office of the President receiving over Shs16bn.
Kakande told the Committee that although the President’s Office has a number of issues like purchase of vehicles for RDCS and purchase of motor bikes for security officers, they could not divert the COVID-19 funds.
He however pleaded with Parliament to ensure the Ministry of Finance returns the Shs2bn to fight the pandemic. Since the declaration of COVID-19 in March 2020, Parliament has so far approved Shs4.108Trn towards COVID-19 fight.
The development comes at the time World Bank approved USD300Million approximately Shs1.118Trn COVID-19 Loan as budget support to boost Government’s capacity to prevent, detect and treat the coronavirus, protect the poor and vulnerable population, and support economic recovery.
The latest results from the Ministry of Health indicate that as per 1st July 2020, Uganda registered 9 new COVID-19 cases bringing the cumulative total confirmed cases of Uganda to 902. Of these, active cases on admission are 188 (163 are Ugandans, 19 foreigners and 6 refugees), Total Recoveries are 847 while total samples tested on 1st July were 1,958.
