Jinja City officials grilled over sh6b returned to consolidated fund

Jinja city leaders were questioned by the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Local Government after failing to spend Shs6 billion, which was instead returned to the consolidated fund at the end of the last financial year.

Gilbert Olanya, the PAC chairperson, said they had learnt that the money was meant for the implementation of various government projects, which have since then stalled.

During the session at Jinja city hall on Friday, Olanya, who is also the Member of Parliament for Kilak south raised concerns that the city, which is grappling with: poor roads, uncollected garbage, underfunded health facilities, Government Seed Schools, irrigation schemes and lack of street security lights failed to absorb the resources meant for service delivery.

“During the review of Jinja city for the financial year 2024-25, we discovered money totalling sh6b meant for the implementation of various government projects was stalled and returned to the consolidated fund,” he said.

During an interview with New Vision on Thursday, Olanya explained that they are carrying out accountability of 19 government entities in Busoga sub-region and its surrounding districts.

He noted that they discovered that 95% of districts and other entities at the end of every financial year remit close to sh2-3B unutilized funds to the consolidated fund and have never been recovered. 

Instead, he advised that affected entities and districts make themselves fully accountable because returning the money seems like a pathway for swindling government funds.

“This directive goes to Jinja city and others who have returned money to the consolidated fund to make proper accountability because by just returning the money, it’s like you’re creating a pathway for it to be swindled,” he noted.

Olanya said affected entities should also make detailed reports so that government sends back the money for the supposed to be projects be implemented.

However, on the issue of the youth livelihood fund, he said many entities had failed to recover the money.

He still cited Jinja city, which released sh1.1b for financial year 2024-25, but has managed to recover only 2%  while districts like Bugiri, which gave out sh1.2b, not even sh1000 has been recovered.

He attributed this to disintegrated saving groups which can’t be traced, indicating wastage of government resources.

Other issues the committee looked at were understaffing, were Jinja city has a gap of 153 vacant posts, which has caused ineffective work in sectors like health, education, and the city administration.

For the Parish Development Model (PDM) scheme, he said funds were going to the right benefactors, where an interest of sh29M was raised.

He said to make it worse, the concerned managers, after getting the interest, instead of remitting it back as a revolving fund for others to benefit, shared it among themselves.

Isabella Ndahura, the city deputy clerk, said most of the unspent funds were sent back to the consolidated fund after a ban on staff recruitment by the Ministry of Public Service in the financial year 2024-25.

She explained that the city’s decision was made in full compliance with the Public Finance Management Act of 2015, which requires unspent public funds to be accounted for and returned to the consolidated fund within a specified period of time.

Elijah Ronald Kafifi, the Jinja city chief financial officer, said however much they returned the funds, they also managed to implement the project of solar street lighting along the Jinja Iganga highway.

Umaru Lutalo, the Jinja northern division clerk said they said they received sh1.27B from the city, where they managed to utilise only sh226m.  

Emmanuel Ongiertho, the vice chairperson of the committee, said that out of the 19 entities that faced the PAC, they were impressed that most queries by the auditor general had been addressed.

Ongiertho, who is also the Jonam constituency MP in Pakwach district, said a few mistakes found were from some ministries, like the Public Service.

“The issue of the ban on recruitment has greatly affected service delivery because they are critical positions that are still vacant,” he said.

He noted that another challenge was the computerised system of pupil registration, yet most schools are still using the manual system.

Way forward

Olanya said that the affected entities that have sent back monies to the consolidated fund should make detailed reports so that government sends back the money for the earmarked projects to be implemented.

He noted that the committee recommended managers of PDM who shared the interest of sh29m that was raised refund the money because it’s a revolving fund.

He added that the money, which is supposed to be reimbursed starting October this year, the committee will also make a follow-up on the repayment process.  

For the youth livelihood fund, MPs recommended that a detailed report be made to government to stop injecting and wasting resources on such projects because most youths think it was a token of appreciation from President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni.