The Uganda Police Force officials have failed to account for over Shs75bn meant for various activities including purchasing of vehicles and training of officers.
Appearing before Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee on Wednesday, where they had been summoned to respond to queries raised in the 30th June 2016 audit report by the Auditor General, officials from Police led by Police Under Secretary Rogers Muhairwe failed to account for the monies in question.
For example, the officials failed to explain how Shs21.9bn was spent on training of 250 officers.
The Auditor General’s report indicated that Shs15.8bn had been budgeted to carry out staff training, but an additional Shs6.14bn was spent, bringing the total figure to about Shs22bn yet the Force didn’t carry out the training needs assessment to determine the staff performance gaps.
Ntungamo Municipality MP Gerald Karuhanga put Police under Secretary Rogers Muhairwe to task to prove that police spent the money on training. But Muhairwe failed to avail the Committee with the list of officers who were training and a breakdown of the expenditure saying that he had not carried it.
Additionally, the audit report revealed that the training reports availed to the investigators did not indicate courses undertaken and places where the trainings took place.
“I was therefore unable to ascertain whether Shs21.98bn spent on training was appropriately spent and properly unaccounted for,” the report read in part.
The report also faulted Police for failing to purchase motor vehicles and other transport equipment that the Force said was to be used for carrying out Police activities during the February 2016 General elections.
The records indicate Police had requested for Shs41.76bn, but the Treasury released Shs42.93bn, indicating an excess of Shs1.173bn.
Muhairwe told the Committee that 40 specialised vehicles for policing the 2016 general elections under a 4-year financing facility with effect from 2014/2015 were to be purchased.
The Auditor highlighted that all funds were received, but operating vehicles were not procured.
When grilled about the matter, Muhairwe said the expenditure was classified in nature, an argument that was rejected by the Audit team.
However, MPs reminded Muhairwe that the vehicles were procured in August 2016, five months after the elections had been concluded.
The revelation rattled the Committee which tasked the Police team to provide details on how the purchase was carried out.
The Force was also faulted for acting spending over Shs296,229,323 on 24 officers whose payment was processed without verifying pensioners’ life certificates to confirm that indeed they are alive and eligible for the payments.
The Audit report also reported that despite the Force highlighting activities to be undertaken in its budget, some of these like the purchase of 100 acres of land for PPP relocation within 30Km from Kampala weren’t acquired even when Government released Shs13.6bn.
