Saturday, June 3, 2023
NEWSDAY
  • News
  • Politics
  • Lifestyle
  • World
  • In pictures
  • Luganda
  • In History
  • Sports
  • Perspective
  • Business
No Result
View All Result
  • News
  • Politics
  • Lifestyle
  • World
  • In pictures
  • Luganda
  • In History
  • Sports
  • Perspective
  • Business
No Result
View All Result
NEWSDAY
No Result
View All Result
Home News

Audit Questions UGX 230Bn Health Ministry Covid-19 Expenditure

by www.newsday.co.ug
March 14, 2021
in News
119 1
Audit Questions UGX 230Bn Health Ministry Covid-19 Expenditure
3k
VIEWS

Related articles

Why We Celebrate Martyrs Day

Why We Celebrate Martyrs Day

June 3, 2023
Long ques, anxiety and celebration at the 2023 Martyrs day at Namugongo

Long ques, anxiety and celebration at the 2023 Martyrs day at Namugongo

June 3, 2023
  • Ministry of health Permanent Secretary Dr. Diana Atwiine. Courtsey Photo.

By URN
An audit report by the Auditor General John Muwanga has qualified the accounts of the Ministry of Health due to several irregularities in expenditure of money mainly meant for the Covid-19 pandemic response.

A qualified opinion means a statement issued by an auditor accompanying an entity’s audited financial statements suggesting that the financial information provided by the entity is limited in scope or a material issue with regard to the application of generally accepted accounting principles.

Now according to Muwanga’s report for the financial year 2019/2020, the Ministry received a total of 184.3 billion in cash and donations in-kind to respond to the Covid-19 Pandemic during the year under review but shortcomings were observed in the entity’s management of the response to corona virus.

Uganda reported it’s first Covid-19 positive case a year ago and since then, the Ministry of Health has been at the forefront in the fight against the deadly virus.

Among the Ministry’s shortcomings highlighted by the audit report in the fight against corona virus was the delayed delivery of procured supplies and their non-certification by competent authorities, lack of space for expansion of Intensive Care Units – ICUs, inadequate staffing of ICUs, gaps in installation of sleeper tents and construction of border posts among others.

The other irregularities noted in the report accessed by Uganda Radio Network-URN include the delivery of procurements before approval of the procurement by the contracts committee or signing contracts, initiation of procurement without availability of funds, diversion of Covid-19 funds, unaccounted for or doubtful payments, delayed issue of appointment and deployment letters to engaged staff, payment of allowances to individuals without engagement records and failure to absorb funds. 

The Auditor General also faulted the Ministry for reporting outstanding domestic arrears totaling to 38.4 billion at the close of the financial year in June 2020 contrary to Section 21(2) of the Public Finance Management Act, 2015 which limits accounting officers to avoid committing government beyond the availed resources. 

“In addition, out of the domestic arrears amounting to 42.1 billion brought forward from the prior year, only 228 million was provided for settlement of these domestic arrears during the year under review,” says Muwanga. “The continued failure to settle such arrears exposes government to a risk of litigation and the attendant costs.”

According to the audit report, the 38.4billion Shilling domestic arrears include  money for National Drug Authority (NDA) totaling to 5.08 billion and National Medical Stores (NMS) totaling 2.9 billion. 

“However, there was no reconciliation of the correct debt position between the Ministry and the two entities giving rise to a discrepancy that shows that the ministry’s position is understated to the tune of 29.9 billion. Absence of reconciliation brings into question the accuracy of the stated payables position,” reveals the audit.

The new report further queries funds to the tune of 2.95 billion Shillings which were irregularly diverted from the activities for which they were budgeted and spent on other activities without seeking and obtaining the necessary approvals. 

The Public Finance Management Act, 2025 (PFMA) requires all accounting officers to seek prior approval from the Secretary to Treasury before diverting funds. The illegal/unauthorized diversion of funds negatively affects the delivery of services and negates the purpose of budgeting.

Further revealed in the report is another 4.5 billion  Shillings received by the Ministry as off-budget financing which was not transferred to the Uganda Consolidated Fund- UCF as required by the law. Muwanga says that this was attributed to Development Partners’ preference to use their financial systems which do not require returning funds to the UCF at the close of every financial year.


Meanwhile, the audit of the Ministry’s financial position also noted that although the entity did not budget to collect Non- Tax Revenue (NTR) during the year under review, a total of 459.7 million was collected. Muwanga reports that failure to budget for collection of NTR could lead to understatement of revenue at reporting.

The ministry is also queried for remaining with an unspent balance of 7.6 billion Shillings and the Auditor General says that failure to obtain all the budgeted revenue and to utilize all the availed funds implies that some planned activities were not implemented, which impacts on service delivery.

This Audit report presented to Speaker Rebecca Kadaga on Thursday is pending further scrutiny by different Parliament Accountability Committees before resolutions are made.


Do you want to share a story, comment or opinion regarding this story or others, Email us at newsdayuganda@gmail.com Tel/WhatsApp........0726054858
Share156Tweet98SendShare
Next Post

Nakifuma County in Mukono pushes for District status.

Discussion about this post

  • DNA shocks Samona,10 children not his

    1209 shares
    Share 484 Tweet 302
  • Jomayi faces total collapse as tycoon Kirumira takes his home, other properties lined for sale.

    633 shares
    Share 253 Tweet 158
  • Samona’s jilted wife leaks chilling secrets of husband’s wealth.

    619 shares
    Share 248 Tweet 155
  • List of shame: Govt names more than 1,000 thieves of public funds

    2123 shares
    Share 849 Tweet 531
  • UPDF base attacked with car, suicide bombers

    505 shares
    Share 202 Tweet 126
NEWSDAY

Your source of the most critical on spot breaking news from www.newsday.co.ug. Newsday Uganda is recognized by audiences around the world as a trusted supplier of news.

newsdayuganda@gmail.com
+256 726 054 858

Categories

  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • In History
  • In Luganda
  • in pictures
  • Lifestyle
  • News
  • Perspective
  • Politics
  • Sport
  • World

Recent Posts

  • Why We Celebrate Martyrs Day
  • Long ques, anxiety and celebration at the 2023 Martyrs day at Namugongo

© 2021 NEWSDAY.

No Result
View All Result
  • News
  • Politics
  • Lifestyle
  • World
  • In pictures
  • Luganda
  • In History
  • Sports
  • Perspective
  • Business

© 2021 NEWSDAY.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
Posting....