The Office of the Auditor General (OAG) has listed eight (8) most wasteful government ministries for the Financial Year 2017/18.
In the annual report for the period that ended on December 31, 2017 submitted to parliament on December 29, 2017 by the Auditor General John Muwanga, the named ministries contributed to a wasteful expenditure to the tune of over Shs2.8bn.
“Good practice requires Accounting Officers to reduce cases of apparent waste, extravagant administration or failure to achieve value for money due to Management’s laxity in the conduct of operations. However, I noted wasteful expenditure to the tune of Shs2,740,998,670 and EUR 17,516 (about Shs80m),” Muwanga said in his report.
According to the audit report, these wasteful expenditures arose as a result of interest on late payments on VAT (Value Added Tax) and breach of contracts.
“This affected the implementation of activities in the entities and on the overall service delivery. I advise Management to adhere to the contract arrangements with a view of avoiding such expenses,” Muwanga said.
According to the audit report, ministry of Works and Transport tops the chart with the most wasteful expenditure amounting to Shs1,911,807,863 as Nugatory Expenditure on Interest Payment. The Works ministry is trailed by Ministry of Finance Planning and Economic Development that registered a wasteful expenditure of Shs469,543,801 from Interest penalty on unpaid VAT. Ministry of Local Government is the third most wasteful ministry according to the report with Shs359,647,006 from Interests on VAT. The other agency is Electoral Commission that had a wasteful expenditure of Shs95, 035,000 followed by Gulu University (Shs32, 476,281).
Algiers Mission was also among the wasteful missions with Euros 17,516 (about Shs80m). The other wasteful agencies are Rural Electrification Agency with Shs63,906,575 from Payment of demurrage due to delayed settlement of import duties. National Enterprise Corporation Tractor Hire Scheme Limited is also another wasteful agency with Shs53,742,465 from Penalty on late remittances of PAYE to Uganda Revenue Authority.
