Kampala, Uganda
The recent Auditor General’s Report 2023, uncovered a major problem in the country’s payroll system. In the report, it turns out that Uganda is losing a whopping Ugx53 billion by either paying salaries to people who don’t exist, or those who have passed away, retired, or abandoned their jobs.
John Muwanga, the Auditor General, revealed the shocking findings while presenting the report to the Speaker of Parliament -Anita Among.
In February 2023, Muwanga conducted a special audit to check the accuracy of the government’s salary payments to its workers in 367 different entities.
However, Muwanga’s assistant, Edward Akol, explained that out of the 358,753 government workers who participated in the audit, 25,439 had only partially verified records.
In addition, 7,744 were not even on the original payroll but were recommended for payment after the audit.
The audit further revealed some troubling facts whereby 2,067 employees were paid a total of Ugx22.4 billion per year despite having incomplete academic documents.
Still, 6,307 employees were irregularly paid Ugx23.6 billion because they were confirmed as either dead, missing, or retired. Shockingly, 1,818 people who received a total of Ugx56 million in February simply didn’t exist.
Next Steps
Speaker Among has pledged to look into the matter urgently. She then assigned Joel Ssenyonyi, the Leader of the Opposition, to make sure that the necessary investigations and actions were taken.
What This Means
These findings raise concerns about how the government manages its money and pays its workers.
The government must fix these problems in the payroll system, ensuring that taxpayer money is used wisely and responsibly.
The report calls for immediate action to restore trust in the government’s handling of finances.
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