The Chairperson of the Local Government Accounts Committee, Hon. Reagan Okumu, says district officials who do not provide proper accountability risk losing their jobs.
Okumu said that as a Committee, they are going to intensify the fight against graft and embezzlement of public funds, which is rampant in local governments.
“I am warning all accounting officers that this Committee will give recommendations to the Ministry of Finance to get rid of accounting officers who cannot properly account for government funds,” he said.
Okumu was addressing district accounting officers, town clerks and chief finance officers from the districts in the Masaka audit region at Masaka District Headquarters on Last week.
The district officials were invited to explain queries raised by the Auditor General in the financial report for the year ended 30th June 2016.
Districts in the Masaka audit region include: Masaka, Rakai, Sembabule, Lyantonde, Lwengo, Mubende, Mityana, Bukomansimbi, Kalungu, Kiboga, Kyankwanzi, and Kalangala district.
The Chairperson warned accounting officers who fail to collect local revenue and described them as, ‘lazy officers who have made it hard for municipalities to develop’.
He told the accounting officers that the committee would not drop accounting queries because they had taken a long time but expects them to provide all the relevant documents to each and every query raised.
