____________

KAMPALA - The Deputy Secretary to the Treasury, Patrick Ocailap, has issued a directive to all Accounting Officers (Central & Local Government) on issues of the wage budget.

This follows the completion of the audit of the salary payrolls by the office of the Auditor General to address persistent shortfalls in salary.

Consequently, the wage bill has increased from sh 7,289,967,353,928 this financial year to sh7,513,067,960,301 in the next financial year 2024/25 to address the shortfalls verified by the Auditor General.

Unfortunately, reports from the Ministry of Public Service show that some Accounting Officers have continued to recruit staff over and above the wage bill for this financial year and again creating shortfalls.

The ministry has compiled the list of implicated votes for appropriate action.

"All Accounting Officers who engaged in recruiting staff over and above their wage allocation as approved by the Ministry of Public Service shall be sanctioned in line with the law including revoking appointment as Accounting Officers," Ocailap said.

He said any shortfalls arising from recruiting staff without authority shall be deducted from the vote's unconditional non-wage budget to address the resultant funding gap.