The truth, lies in Covid cash use

Members of Parliament (MPs) have asked the Auditor General, Mr John Muwanga, to do a forensic audit into how Shs4 trillion meant for Covid-19 response has been used, and ascertain whether there was value for money.

Uganda registered its first Covid case in March, two days after President Museveni locked the country, in what prefaced tighter controls that in future months limited deaths, but opened a floodgate to rights abuses particularly by security forces.

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Unlike other countries including developed Italy, the United States and the United Kingdom that lost thousands of citizens, coronavirus over two years killed only 3,596 out of 164,118 Ugandans that have so far caught the disease.

Lancet Covid-19 Commission, a global scientific body, recognised this feat early in August 2020 when it classified Uganda’s response as the best in Africa and the 10th best globally.  

In Kampala, officials chest-thumped, perhaps deservedly, and billions of shillings was made available by Treasury besides bilateral and multilateral grants and loans --- all intended for Covid response including vaccine acquisition and economic recovery.

Our computation places overall government contribution since 2020 at Shs4.6 trillion, and an earlier Auditor General report on part of the spending unearthed alleged abuse of the funds and delayed implementation of projects by different ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).

The Health Ministry, which has been leading the response, majorly on mitigation of health impact, received Shs119.1 billion in 2019/2020 to prepare the country for an effective fight against the pandemic by boosting the emergency care services and other requirements for surveillance and handling patients. 

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The Shs119.1b was part of the Shs284 billion supplementary fund that Parliament approved in 2020.

Part of the money was questionably allocated to the Office of the President (Shs16.7b), Office of the Prime Minister (Shs59.4b) for relief for vulnerable people which turned out fraudulent, Ministry of Defence (Shs30.3b) for enforcing lockdown measures, and Uganda Police (Shs37.4b), Parliamentary Commission (Shs10b) for sensitisation, among other MDAs.

In the 2020/2021 Financial Year, an additional Shs253b was given for mitigating the health effects of the pandemic which falls under the docket of Health ministry. It was in 2021 that Uganda experienced the second wave of the pandemic, which peaked in June prompting second lockdown.

The second wave was more punishing; infections soared and patients died in ambulances or outside health facilities because treatment units were full.
Again, in the same Financial Year, an additional Shs967b was disbursed for mitigating the direct impact of the pandemic on health, meaning an overall total of Shs1.3 trillion was made available that year to Finance ministry for Covid-19 response from its outbreak in March 2020. 

The biggest portion of the overall Covid-19 expenditure, about 70 percent of the overall Shs4.6 trillion, was channelled towards mitigating economic impact (Shs2.6t), enforcement of control measures, mitigating social effects and Covid-related communication, among others.

However, separate reports by the Auditor General and Parliamentary Task Force on the National Covid-19 Response found there was gross mismanagement of resources while some of the planned activities were not done.

Specifically, as a condition for the lifting of the lockdown in May 2020, the Cabinet directed the Ministry of Health to provide non-medical and reusable face masks totalling 34.1 million to all persons above six (6) years of age, and later 2.6 million masks supplied to learners as a precondition for reopening schools.

“Consequently, a total of 36,702,048 masks at a cost of Shs2, 400 per mask were procured and distributed to 135 districts and to all finalist learners in candidate classes across the country. At a cost of Shs2, 400 per fabric mask, the total cost for the 36,702,048 masks comes to Shs88b,” the task force report reads.

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However, a review of the accountability of the funding to Health ministry for the period March 2020 to June 2021, according to the report, revealed that a total of Shs90.9b was spent with respect to the procurement of fabric masks.

“Consequently, the analysis of the Task Force revealed a discrepancy in both the reported number of fabric masks procured and distributed by 1,214,202 and the amount of money spent on the procurement of the fabric masks by Shs2.9b,” the task force revealed in its report.

Dr Jane Ruth Aceng, the Health Minister, in response, said: “It is indeed true the Ministry of Health spent Shs90.9b to procure the 37,916,250 masks. The observed shortfall of 1,214,202 masks was due to additional masks distributed to districts due to discrepancies in the projected population figures from Uganda Bureau of Statistics and the actual figures.”

Dr Nicholas Kamara, the Kabale Municipality MP, who is part of the Parliamentary Task Force on Covid-19, said their recommendation for an in-depth audit has not been implemented by the government.

“I was on the committee, western region, and I remember very well that our topmost agenda was to make sure the vaccine is available for Ugandans. As a committee, we made our point that emergency at that time was the vaccine,” he said.

“The good thing is that good friends (countries) gave us vaccines and the vaccines were availed to Ugandans and now it is up to us to take up the vaccines. However, we said that since we are not technical, there should be a forensic audit by the Auditor General. That audit has not come yet and when that happens the public will know,” he added.

Uganda has so far obtained 44.7 million doses of vaccines, largely through donations despite Shs560b that was planned for procuring the life-saving jabs, raising questions where the government money for vaccine acquisition has gone. A total of around a 19 million doses have been utilised amid reports that substantial number will expire this month.

The threat from the virus has drastically declined this year, partly due to the weak Covid variant, Omicron, and a higher number of vaccinated citizens.  

Dr Micheal Lulume Bayiga, the Buikwe South MP, said they have been left in the dark as far as the spending of Shs560b that was allocated by the Finance ministry for procuring Covid-19 vaccines is concerned.

“The issue was [that] money that was appropriated by Parliament, of the Shs560b, the only accountability that we could obtain out of the presentation which was sensibly articulated is Shs128b, of course without receipts,” he said.

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The money was allocated to help the government inoculate about 22 million Ugandans to effectively contain the pandemic and guarantee economic recovery. Finance ministry officials declined to respond to multiple inquiries by this reporter for how Shs560b was spent.

Minister Aceng, however, said last week that a total of Shs98.4 billion has been used for procuring and deploying Covid-19 vaccines since last year, still leaving unanswered questions on where all the Shs560b allocated for vaccines went.

She said her ministry received only Shs128.5b and that part of the money has already been used while Shs29.6b is still with the United Nations Child Fund (Unicef), the agency through which the government procured the vaccines.

“There was a supplementary request that was passed through the Parliament of Uganda of $5m (Shs18.5b), then there was money provided to the ministry on the contingency fund of Shs23b also for vaccine procurement. Then there was money that was voted to National Medical Stores of Shs80b, also for vaccine procurement,” Dr Aceng said.

According to the minister, another Shs6.8b was provided from the contingency fund for vaccine deployment.

“This means the total amount of money that was provided for vaccines and vaccines development to Ministry of Health is Shs128.5b. The government of Uganda made the first payment to the African Vaccine Acquisition Initiative (AVAT), for 9m doses of Johnson&Johnson vaccines. We paid $10.5m (Shs37.2b),” she said. 

Dr Aceng added: “The government also made a disbursement for the Sinopharm vaccines. We paid $13.9m (Shs49.6b). Out of the Shs80b [given to NMS), six percent went into handling cost of the vaccine at NMS, which is Shs4.8b.”

She said they got 1.4 million doses of Johnson&Johnson vaccines and two million doses of Sinopharm which put the total number of doses of vaccines procured by the government of Uganda at 3.5 million. 

This means the ministry paid $5.5 (Shs19,600) for each dose of Sinopharm, which is the same information contained in the Unicef report about the prices of vaccines. Information from Unicef indicates that each dose of Johnson & Johnson was sold to AVAT at $10 (Shs35,742).

But the $10.5m for nine million doses means the ministry paid only around $3.5 per dose of Johnson & Johnson. The ministry has not explained why they only received 1.4m out of the total order of 9m doses.

Dr Aceng said all the payments made by the government of Uganda were done through Unicef. 

“Unicef, however, has a balance which is Shs29.6b still in their account. If you add all that I have mentioned plus the Shs6.8b operational cost, that gives you a sub-total of Shs128.5b, accounting for all the funds provided to the Ministry of Health,” she said.

When asked about the said balance, Ms Catherine Ntabadde, the Unicef Uganda spokesperson, said last Friday that she was abroad and unable to speak. By yesterday, she had not yet responded to the messages sent to her.

The parliamentary taskforce noted that there was alarming lack of transparency in managing other response monies such as Ugandan Development Bank re-capitalisation, support to SACCOs through Microfinance Support Centre, Emyooga and the Youth Funds, and Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Programme, among others.

“The interventions were well intentioned to boost the private sector, protect economic resilience, and provide some certainty for business. However, they were affected by lack of a transparent mechanism to ensure that the resources trickle down to the intended beneficiaries. Consequently, many small and medium enterprises, women and youths have continued to suffer from the economic impacts of Covid-19 unabated,” the report reads.

Mr Ramathan Ggoobi, whom President Museveni tapped as the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Finance and secretary to the Treasury, mid last year said a total amount released for Covid-19 expenditure in the 2020/21 Financial Year alone was Shs2.3 trillion of which a total of Shs677b was disbursed for the settlement of domestic arrears.

Auditor General Muwanga in a January 2022 report noted mismanagement of billions of shillings.
“I instituted a special audit with the main objective of establishing whether the above funds were released and appropriately utilised. The audits were conducted in 98 MDAs ... A total of Shs676b was allocated and disbursed to various MDAs to settle domestic arrears with a view of improving liquidity within the local business community,” he wrote.

He added: “I noted that 90 percent of funds were used appropriately for the intended purpose; however, I noted diversion of funds to pay for unrelated expenditure worth Shs4.897Bn (0.7 percent), unsupported domestic arrears of Shs27.38b (4 percent), and payment for contested/rejected domestic arrears of Shs1.2b (0.2 percent). I also noted that Shs33.8b (5 percent) was used to settle international obligations; thus, [it] did not contribute to the stated objective since the funds were externalised.”

For the Health ministry, Shs253b was released and received by the Ministry in 2020/2021 alone, but more than 7 billion was allegedly diverted.
“The money (Shs253b) was used to procure medical supplies, 282 motor vehicles, pay allowances to medical workers, masks, intensive care equipment and build modular houses at 6 border points. All the planned activities were undertaken amidst many challenges. I noted a diversion of funds totalling Shs7.9b,” Mr Muwanga wrote.

He reported delayed Health ministry response in listening to, and addressing, the plight of health workers who manned Covid-19 treatment centres.

“Though funds were paid for the acquisition of vaccines, there were delays in the delivery of the vaccines due to the global demand. There was a delay in the installation of intensive care equipment in Gulu, Mbarara, Bombo, and Lacor hospitals due to building inadequacies,” the AG further noted.

According to the audit, whereas medical workers requested to be paid Shs150,000 per day as risk allowance, they instead received Shs80,000 per day.

The recipients petitioned Parliament to exempt the pay from taxes, but the issue was never resolved. Auditors also found that Shs2.2b meant for Pay As You Earn tax to Uganda Revenue Authority, the government tax collector, was not deducted from the allowances paid to medical workers in the reviewed period.

Audit

The standard I instituted a special audit with the main objective of establishing whether the above funds were released and appropriately utilised,” Mr John Muwanga, Auditor General.