By Andrew Irumba
Kabarole: There is trouble brewing at the Kabarole District headquarters after the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) attaching the salaries of several employees over various audit queries.
Phiona Sanyu, the CAO, has withheld July salaries for four
district staff members who failed to provide accountability for money advanced
to them.
The affected members of staff are Steven Wakatama, the
District Engineer, George Sabiiti, the District Fisheries Officer, Basudde
Bruno, the District Assistant Water Officer and Smart Bwango, the Clerk to
Council Kabarole District.
SpyUganda has learnt that the action follows an internal audit report covering the months of January to March 2019, which indicated that over Shs410m  had been spent in the first quarter but was not accounted for. The report shows that Shs361m  was advanced to various groups under the Youth Livelihood Programme, in the absence of acknowledgement of receipt and project financing agreements.
The auditor pointed out that Bwango failed to account for Shs23m
that was given to her to facilitate district council sittings, while Sabiiti
failed to account for over Shs1.2m which was given to him to inspect new fish
farmers and ponds in the district, among other activities. (https://www.qualityhotelgander.com)
The other affected staff; Basudde, received over Shs2.9m to,
among others, inspect water points in the district, but failed to account
for it.
According to the Kabarole District Internal Auditor, Charles
Ndibalema, up to Shs14m, part of the money in question, was given to Shell Fuel
Station for fuel given to various political and technical leaders in the
district, without any official receipt on file to prove they indeed received
the money.
The CAO said that all youth groups have been asked to write
letters acknowledging that they received the money, while the staff salaries
will be withheld and Shell Fuel Station will in the meantime be
blacklisted.
However, the affected staff said that they used all the money
for the intended purposes, although they had only delayed submitting their
activity reports as part of the accountability documents, due to unavoidable
circumstances. The affected staff also
maintained that they have since submitted all their activity reports to the
CAO.
Regulation 43 of the Local Government Financial and
Accounting Regulations of 2007 requires that administrative advances to any
council employee should be authorized by the Chief Executive Officer and be
accounted for within a month.
