21 Jinja city officials ordered to refund sh33m misappropriated funds

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The Inspectorate of Government has directed 21 Jinja City officials to refund about sh33m in reportedly misappropriated funds.

They are required to deposit the money into the account of the Inspectorate of Government Assets Recovery held in the Bank of Uganda.

“Any official who fails to comply with this directive will be prosecuted," the IG said in a statement on Monday (April 13), adding that each implicated official was written to over the directive.

This followed investigations by the inspectorate's Jinja Regional Office that found the officials had misappropriated the funds meant for official duty.

The IG said that during the investigations, the affected officials agreed to refund the money.

“Details show that though the officials requested for money to carry out activities, there was no evidence that such activities were carried out," said the inspectorate.

"The money was unaccounted for, contrary to Regulations 123 (7) (c) of the Local Government Financial and Accounting Regulations, 2007, which states that: Any public officer who fails to account for council funds without any reasonable excuse commits an offence."

Last week, the IG said they had recovered about sh336m from 62 public officials out of the 202 who had defaulted on payment of the refund of monies stolen from Government.

The office said it would institute charges related to disobedience of lawful orders and abuse of office against officials who remain non-compliant and deliberately disregard statutory IG directives to refund the money.

It said the recoveries followed a public notice it issued, highlighting an outstanding amount of about sh2.4b which had been irregularly utilised by the officials for personal gain "to the detriment of public service delivery".

Of the 62 officials who have made payments, 38 cleared their outstanding balances in full, amounting to about sh214m, while 24 officials made partial payments totaling about sh122m.

“Out of the remaining 140 officials who have not made any payments, two have surrendered properties, which are to undergo valuation by the IG. These recoveries affirm the IG’s commitment to promoting integrity, transparency and accountability in public offices," said the IG.