By Spy Uganda
Kampala: Lawmakers on the Committee of Commissions, Statutory Authorities, and State Enterprises (COSASE) have raised concerns about the Uganda Bureau of Statistics’ (UBOS) handling of the 2024 National Household Census. They questioned why census results were released before the enumerators who collected the data were paid.
Isiah Ssasaga Wanzira, the MP for Budadiri East Constituency highlighted the issue, stating, “In the communities we come from, there are complaints that UBOS has not paid the enumerators their allowances.”
Aliziki Kaudha Lubega, Director of Economic Statistics at UBOS, acknowledged that some enumerators had not been paid due to mismatches between their submitted numbers and the details on their national IDs. She assured Parliament that these discrepancies were being addressed.
“This time, we used E-Cash, which has limits. We had to release funds in batches due to the large amount involved. Some enumerators haven’t been paid because of mismatches in their numbers and NINs, but we are addressing these case by case,” explained Kaudha.
During the meeting on 17th July 2024, Yusuf Nsibambi, the Mawokota South Constituency MP expressed disappointment with the census management, noting that the Committee cannot yet determine if there was value for money since the Auditor General has not audited the exercise.
“I believe the national census was mismanaged, especially regarding the budget. We want to know what was achieved with the allocated funds,” said Nsibambi.
The meeting began tensely, with MPs like Nathan Itungo, the Kashari South County criticizing UBOS officials’ responses, suggesting they were unprepared to account for the UGX 75Bn allocated in 2022/23.
“I am uncomfortable with the way the team is handling these responses. It seems like they are revising for an exam rather than providing clear answers. I doubt if we have the right people to answer these queries,” remarked Itungo.
Legislators also criticized UBOS for poor planning and budget implementation. The Auditor General noted that despite receiving UGX 72Bn, UBOS requested a supplementary budget of UGX 3.7Bn, totaling UGX75Bn, but spent only UGX 70Bn. This led to a variance of UGX 5.1Bn returned to the Consolidated Fund. MPs questioned why UBOS requested a supplementary budget and failed to utilize it.
Kaudha explained, “When we received the supplementary funds, we couldn’t start the manpower survey as it was out of the planning period, so we pushed it to the next financial year.”
However, Michael Tusiime, Director of Accountability Committees at Parliament, rejected UBOS’s explanation, pointing out contradictions in their financial statements. He noted that while UBOS reported UGX 5Bn in unutilized funds, the Auditor General’s report indicated UGX 6Bn.
Tusiime added, “The unutilized wage funds of UGX2Bn mean UBOS returned UGX 8Bn to the Consolidated Fund. The Committee must ensure that UBOS costs the activities that were not implemented.”
“You attributed the non-utilization of UGX3.7Bn to delays in starting the manpower survey, but this survey is not listed among the unimplemented items. Since you received 100% of the budget, the unutilized funds were meant for activities you didn’t implement,” said Tusiime.
He further emphasized, “There are activities you implemented partially, meaning you didn’t fully utilize those funds. You need to detail the UGX5Bn that wasn’t utilized and match it to the unimplemented activities.”
