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.
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.
