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Entebbe Municipal council officials were on Thursday quizzed by MPs over deceased employees’ benefits.

This followed a discovery by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC/Local Government) of gaps in the payroll.

The development emanated from an observation by Auditor General John Muwanga in his report for the entity for the year ended June 2023.

During the year under review, Muwanga discovered that out of the warranted sh8.744b for the entity, sh8.419b was utilized for recruitment of staff, leaving an unutilized warrant of sh325m.  

In addition, out of the 493 employees on the Integrated Personnel and Payroll System (IPPS)/Human Capital Management System (HCM) payroll, 458 employees were fully verified at the time.

Eight of the 12 employees who did not show up for a head count, were confirmed to have exited the district due to death, retirement, transfer of service, among other factors.

In her response, Entebbe municipal council’s senior human resource officer, Irene Mpamulungi, acknowledged that indeed three employees (Irumba Jackson, a one Mildred and Azikuru) passed on but that their paper work has yet to be submitted.

Mugisha Emmanuel, Entebbe municipality town clerk and Aisha Kitanda, deputy town clerk. (Photo by Miriam Namutebi)

Members of the committee meeting with Entebbe municipality officials. (Photo by Miriam Namutebi)

Mpamulungi explained that she lost the contact of the latter’s daughter whom she last met three months ago.

“The only means of communication I had was the number of the late but whenever I could call it, it would not be on. I expected the children to be using the mum’s number,” Mpamulungi told the legislators.

This drew a reaction from the committee lawmakers, who are led by Gilbert Olanya.

'Dead will haunt you'

Jonam county MP Emmanuel Ongiertho appeared irritated.

“I am sorry to say that you are close to a devil. How can you be having your own staff that have been there for some time and you cannot trace their people?" he asked Mpamulungi.

"I thought as part of your sympathy for somebody passing on, you provide guidance.

“I can tell you the soul of the dead will follow you guys and they must haunt you.”

Busongora North MP Sowedi Kitanywa said that under normal circumstances, Entebbe municipal council should have extended help on how to process benefits.

“As an entity, when you lose someone, you go for the burial. So when you come and tell us that you can’t trace the family, it means that the person passed on and you even never attended the burial. You were never bothered,” said Kitanywa.

“While you might have been there at that time, atleast the system should be able to tell the person was coming from this area. If we want to follow up with the family, this is what should happen."

Committee chairperson Olanya apportioned blame on the local government ministry, saying such laxity is bred by deploying officers for a long time in one area.

PAC (Local Government) Chairperson Gilbert Olanya. (Photo by Miriam Namutebi)

“The human resource officer will stay in Entebbe until she retires. The engineers, district education officer will just be there constantly. Let them go and experience other districts," he opined.

"We would like to understand how much are you supposed to pay those people who passed on, the total figure.