Ggoobi warns 28 MDAs accounting officers over Resource accountability

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Finance ministry permanent secretary Ramathan Ggoobi has warned accounting officers of 28 government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) over failure to account for public funds.

According to the list of designated accounting officers submitted to Parliament, out of 340 MDAs submitted, 83 had no accounting officers.

Explaining to the MPs on the House budget committee, Ggoobi said since the tabling of the budget to Parliament in March, several accounting officers have failed to account for public funds, leaving 28 of them ineligible.

The response is contained in a statement sent to the Committee.

“By the time of laying the budget in Parliament in March, 83 accounting officers were ineligible. However, the validation process has been ongoing. To date, 28 accounting officers are still ineligible. They are submitting responses on the issues raised in the Auditor General’s report 2023/24. This exercise will be concluded by March 31, 2025, in line with the PFMA,” he said.

Ggoobi, however, did not mention or table the names of the affected votes.

He said the appointment of accounting officers for every financial year is provided for by the Public Finance Management Act and Treasury Instructions 2017.

According to the Act, the Secretary to the Treasury is mandated to appoint or designate accounting officers following the Act.

However, the Secretary to the Treasury shall not appoint or designate an accounting officer if the report of the Auditor General indicates that the person has not accounted for the public resources or assets.

He told the MPs that in the event the twenty-eight do not meet the above-stated criteria by the due date, then new accounting officers will be appointed or designated to take charge of the affected votes with effect from July 1, 2025.