Deputy Inspector General of Government, Anne Twinomugisha Muhairwe, has directed Masaka District Human Resource Officer, Kityo Mugagga, to refund UGX 25,329,000 irregularly paid to a ghost pensioner, the late Joseph Henry Kyeyune.
Investigations by the Inspectorate’s Masaka Regional Office established that Mugagga, despite being aware that Kyeyune had died in 2015, manipulated official records to keep him on the pension payroll.
Payments continued to flow into Kyeyune’s Centenary Bank account, where family members made withdrawals.
The IGG’s statement revealed that on December 16, 2019—three years after Kyeyune’s death—Mugagga requested the Ministry of Public Service to alter the deceased’s date of birth, a move that secured additional retirement benefits.
Pension payments went on for over five years before the fraud was detected.
Kyeyune, who was born on July 15, 1927, served in the East African Posts and Telegraph from 1950 until retiring in 1984 as a Senior Technician.
His pension was later transferred to the Masaka District Local Government payroll during the 2015/2016 decentralization exercise.
Despite regulations requiring pensioners to submit annual life certificates as proof of existence, Mugagga ignored the rule.
By February 2022, Kyeyune was finally removed from the payroll after irregular payments totaling UGX 32,472,989.
When the Inspectorate conducted an inspection in March 2022, a balance of UGX 7,143,989 remained recoverable from the bank.
The Inspectorate concluded that Mugagga’s actions violated Section 18(1) of the Pensions Act, Cap 89, which stipulates that pensions cease upon a beneficiary’s death.
He was found guilty of abuse of office, gross negligence, and failure to perform his duties.
Besides refunding the money, Mugagga will face the Masaka District Service Commission for disciplinary proceedings.
Uganda has a long history of ghost pension scandals. In 2012, the government suspended the entire pension scheme after discovering losses exceeding UGX 155 billion to non-existent beneficiaries in the Ministry of Public Service.
That same year, police uncovered an additional UGX 10 billion paid to over 3,000 ghost pensioners.
A 2016 report estimated that another UGX 23 billion had been lost to similar scams, while Auditor General reports for 2014 and 2015 showed monthly leakages of UGX 12.7 billion and UGX 11 billion, respectively.
In 2024, the Auditor General intensified pension verification exercises, including physical headcounts, as the IGG investigated more than 24,000 suspected ghost cases.
This followed a 2018 government initiative to link the National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) with the Human Capital Management System (HCMS) to combat fraud.
Still, the 2024 pension audit flagged gaps, noting that records of deceased civil servants were not promptly updated.
“The failure to update such records may lead to delayed deletion and continued salary/pension payments, causing financial loss to government,” the Auditor General warned, calling for tighter integration between NIRA and HCMS.
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