Probe Nira over pupil registration - MPs

Kampala.

Parliament has asked the Auditor General to investigate the National Identification and Registration Authority (Nira) to show how it procured equipment and paid its workers involved in registration of pupils in primary schools across the country.
The House’s Defence and Internal Affairs committee report indicates that while Parliament approved Shs53.6b for the exercise, Shs69.5b was used without approval.
The MPs also say the approved budget of Shs468 million for publicity was instead reduced to Shs192m and the balance irregularly re-allocated to other activities without the approval of Parliament.
While Nira was expected to buy new cameras, laptops and batteries for the project, the items were delivered after the exercise.
In the process, its officials were forced to use old equipment, which delayed completion of the process. A total of 2,000 laptops and batteries were bought at Shs7.98 billion.
“The committee recommends that the Auditor General should conduct a forensic audit on the registration of learners’ project and if any discrepancies are found, the culprits should be interdicted,” reads the March 2018 report.

Additional funding
“The committee established that since the inception of the project, the Ministry of Finance has granted supplementary funding of Shs15.6b to Nira. This was by technical re-allocation, which is not supported by the Public Finance Management Act, 2015,” the report adds.
The committee, chaired by Ms Judith Nabakooba, and deputised by Mr Dononzio Mugobe Kohondo, sampled staff, parents and enrolment officers from Noor Secondary School-Queens Way, Katwe, King’s Day Care and Boarding Primary School, Kabowa, St Andrew’s Primary School, Ndejje, St Kizito Primary School, and St Kizito Senior Secondary School, Bugolobi.
“The steering committee approved a supplementary budget of shs2.8 billion towards the closure of 2016/2017, which is a sign of last-minute expenditure,” adding: “This supplementary was granted, yet the original budget had not yet been exhausted, which is questionable,” the report noted.
It also noted that although enrolment officers were to be paid an allowance of Shs450,000, some have not been paid to date.
It also pointed out that while Nira officials had taken the workers’ bank account numbers for payment, their pay was later remitted through mobile money platforms, but without factoring in withdrawal charges.
“This frustrated the officers leading to a general failure to beat the deadline. Owing to the challenges, it is clear that the results of the registration of learners are far from what government expected,” the report added.