Govt holds crisis meeting over dropped CAOs

The 110 local government staff whose appointment as accounting officers had been canceled last week could get a reprieve, after an emergency meeting between the Prime Minister and officials from the ministries of finance and local government.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja held a crisis meeting to resolve the impasse following the cancellation of the appointment of 110 chief administrative officers (CAOs) and municipal town clerks as accounting officers. This was due to failure to comply with the Public Finance Management Act.

 The emergency meeting also came in the wake of the protest by the local government ministry following a decision by the permanent secretary and secretary to the treasury, Ramathan Ggoobi, to withhold funds to local governments that were yet to submit their revised budgets.

This follows an announcement on Monday, in which the finance ministry released sh10.4 trillion to cater to expenditures of various ministries, local governments, and other public entities for the first quarter of the financial year 2022/2023.

Of the released money, local governments received sh949.7b. The total budget for the entire year for the local governments is sh5 trillion.

Ggoobi, in his release circular, said local governments that were yet to submit their revised budgets were not catered for in the money release.

The decision by the permanent secretary could in effect have paralyzed services in the over 110 local governments which were supposed to use part of the money to pay salaries and for services.

Yesterday, Nabbanja told Parliament that the Government had agreed to review the termination of 110 affected officers and that they would handle the matter on a case-by-case basis.

She said those found innocent would be reinstated. Nabbanja explained to Parliament that a meeting was held and it was agreed that those who had made it a habit not to submit budgets to the finance ministry on time will have to go.

“We have a law in place that requires the accounting officers to produce budgets on time. Some of these officers did not do so in time and the permanent secretary had to crack the whip. In the meeting, we agreed that we handle case by case. Those found innocent will remain, but those who have made it a habit, please allow us to do our work,” she said.

Ggoobi dropped the 110 accounting officers last week for failure to submit their annual budgets for the 2022/23 financial year within the required time frame, which affected the release of the funds for their first quarter.

Ggoobi accused CAOs of delaying service delivery and budget commencement, saying only 66 local governments had submitted their respective budget details.

However, the CAOs have claimed it was not their fault, but that Programme Based System where they were supposed to submit their respective budget details had issues.

He gave local government permanent secretary Ben Kumumanya, until Monday, July 11, to submit fresh names of new accounting officers.

However, the local government ministry did not adhere to the deadline, with the officials insisting it was not their fault, but that of the finance ministry.

Yesterday, finance minister Matia Kasaija urged the local government ministry to do what was required of them. He said he had not been in office for about five days, but added:

“The blame should not be on the finance ministry. Have they done what they were supposed to do in order to get the money? Let them correct whatever they have not done and we shall release the money.” Local government minister Raphael Magyezi confirmed the impasse was being resolved.

MPs speak out

Wakiso District Woman MP Betty Naluyima asked Parliament to investigate the reasons behind the dropping of the accounting officers.

MP Anthony Akolo, however, supported the move, saying they have been waiting for a government official who could act on the errant CAOs.

“Many of them are not doing their work. We have been asking the Government to take action. I fully support the action of the permanent secretary, otherwise, we will not get the required service delivery,” he said.

Though the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Thomas Tayebwa, supported the move, he said the method of cracking the whip needed to be examined.

“I have seen the clash between the two ministers in the papers, which means there is a problem of communication. The two ministers should have discussed the matter and agreed on those who are incompetent and not. The Prime Minister should co-ordinate the two,” Tayebwa said.

He added: “We shall let you do your work, but ask your ministers to resolve their matters in the boardroom and not in the media.”