UPDF fail to account for Shs3 billion

UPDF officials led by the Chief of Defence Forces, Gen David Muhoozi (left), appear before MPs last year. FILE PHOTO

Kampala- Officials from the Defence ministry have come under scrutiny after failing to account for Shs3b ostensibly spent on tyres, fuel and land transactions.

There is also no trace of unspent millions of shillings in cash balances, according to a report by the Auditor General for the 2015/16 Financial Year.

The report shows that the UPDF in May 2016 paid Shs823m as part of Shs1b deal to buy tyres for manning security during the 2016 polls.

A “scrutiny of the supporting documents revealed that [the] tyres were not supplied,” the auditors concluded.
The audit also revealed that there was no signed contract between the Defence ministry and the tyre supplier.
This prompted Members of Parliament yesterday to declare that procurement-related corruption is rife in UPDF’s chieftaincy of Logistics and Engineering.

Senior UPDF officers appeared before the Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) yesterday to answer audit queries raised by the Auditor General for the 2015/16 Financial Year.

In the same period, auditors found that UPDF procurements worth Shs3b had no supporting documents.
The army reported that it had spent Shs389m out of the Shs3b to buy 100,000 litres of fuel, but provided no evidence of delivery.

Another Shs453m that was paid to procure fuel and lubricants also remains unaccounted for, with Shs36m out of it paid for fuel using smart cards while Shs391m was categorised as bulk fuel purchase expenses.
Brig Jackson Mulondo, the UPDF deputy chief of Logistics in-charge supplies, told PAC that “if the fuel had delayed, it could have resulted into loss of lives”.

Army explains
“We had urgent operations in Moroto and under the (UPDF) 2nd Division and there was no fuel,” Brig Mulondo said.
The army is also on the spot for how it accumulated a Shs102b debt, with a larger being compensations for questionable land transactions whose beneficiaries, among others, included its ex-officers. There are also unresolved valuation disputes.

The Auditor General’s report indicated that the UPDF has land arrears running into Shs102b, with Shs29b scheduled to be paid for (Rtd) Col William Omaria’s 29.6 square miles of land in Katakwi.

The PAC vice chairperson, Mr Gerald Karuhanga, accused UPDF officials of potential collusion with Col Omaria in the Shs29b deal. “The chairperson [Angeline Osege] says Omaria has a record of grabbing land. So you have a case of the officer grabbing land and UPDF acquiring the land from him at Shs29b,”Mr Karuhanga said.

Rtd Col Omaria was not present during the PAC sitting and we were unable to reach him by press time.
Mr Johnson Wepukuru, an internal auditor with the Defence ministry, admitted that there were disputes over ownership of Col Omaria’s land, but told MPs that the Chief Government Valuer had cleared the transaction.

Other beneficiaries of the disputed land deals are Uganda Meat Packers (Shs28b), Wasswa and Kato Lule (Shs4b), Petro Bashaija (Shs3.8b), Digital Solutions (Shs1.2b), Harry Kasigwa (Shs1b) and Ibra Sewanga (Shs1b).

‘Ghost’ supply
On the procurement of unsupplied tyres, the auditors noted: “The accounting officer indicated that at the time of undertaking procurement for election security tyres (sic), the ministry owed the supplier Shs2b. When the new call off order was issued for the supply of tyres for election security activities and the company refused to honour it, a decision was made to issue a one-call order worth $214,716 (Shs770m).”