The Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee on Local Government (PAC-LG) has raised concern over persistent failures by local governments to maintain comprehensive asset registers, citing delays in the valuation of public property and inadequate funding for government valuers.
The committee, chaired by Mukono Municipality MP Betty Nambooze, raised the concerns while questioning officials from the Office of the Chief Government Valuer over challenges affecting the valuation and management of public assets across the country.
The officials, led by Chief Government Valuer Gilbert Kermundu, faced scrutiny over delays in valuing government property, which have left several local governments unable to dispose of obsolete assets despite making repeated requests for valuation services.
Nambooze said the committee had established during its oversight engagements with various districts that several local governments had written to the Chief Government Valuer requesting assistance but had received no response.
She said the failure to conduct timely valuations had frustrated efforts by local governments to dispose of obsolete assets, raising questions about accountability and the proper management of public property.
The committee also questioned allegations that the Valuation Department routinely requires districts to provide fuel and overnight allowances for officials travelling to assess public assets.
However, Kermundu denied that the department solicits money from local governments, attributing the challenges to staff shortages and inadequate operational funding, which he said make it difficult for valuers to travel to distant districts using their available monthly budgets.
He explained that local governments are expected to meet the transportation costs of valuation teams but often fail to provide the necessary facilitation.
The explanation prompted committee members to question why the central Valuation Department does not have an independent field operations budget to address recurring audit queries raised against local governments.
In response, the Office of the Chief Government Valuer asked Parliament to increase its budget by at least Shs10 billion to strengthen its operations and enable it to effectively carry out valuation assignments across the country.
The committee’s concerns come amid previous findings of significant discrepancies in the valuation of public assets by several local governments.
In September this year, Nambooze’s committee uncovered questionable valuations in Luweero District, where officials had independently valued motorcycles at Shs12 million each while placing the value of a functional motor vehicle at only Shs4 million.
The committee also discovered instances where land values had been recorded as declining rather than appreciating, raising concerns about the accuracy and credibility of asset valuation records.
Nambooze accused some administrative units of deliberately undervaluing public property worth billions of shillings, warning that the practice could facilitate the loss of government assets.
“We suspect they are doing this to facilitate the disposal of public property to private buyers at prices well below actual market worth,” Nambooze said.
Meanwhile, Katerera County MP Boaz Atwijukire raised concern over the failure by several government entities to establish and maintain asset registers, partly attributing the problem to the high cost of valuing public property.
Citing Rubirizi District, which is now 15 years old but still lacks an asset register, Atwijukire said local governments have struggled to engage government valuers to assess their property and establish the actual value of their assets because of the costs involved.
He noted that the challenge extends beyond Rubirizi, affecting several government entities operating under limited budgets and making it difficult for them to finance comprehensive asset valuation exercises.
Atwijukire expressed hope that an upcoming committee report would propose practical solutions, including a dedicated national budget allocation to support the valuation and documentation of public assets across local governments.
He urged the government to adequately fund and empower the Office of the Chief Government Valuer instead of transferring the financial burden to local governments, which are already struggling with limited resources.
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