ODPP ordered to account for 40 vehicles
The matter came to light during an August 21, 2026, meeting between officials of the entity and the Public Accounts Committee (Central), led by its chairperson Patrick Guma-Oshabe Nsamba.
Public Accounts Committee (Central) chairperson Patrick Guma-Oshabe Nsamba (left). (File photo)
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The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) has been ordered to provide evidence accounting for 40 vehicles it procured two years ago, after only a fraction of them was recorded in its asset register.
The matter came to light during an August 21, 2026, meeting between officials of the entity and the Public Accounts Committee (Central), led by its chairperson Patrick Guma-Oshabe Nsamba.
The procurement was mentioned in Auditor General (AG) Edward Akol’s report on the entity for the 2024/25 Financial Year (FY), but only a fraction of the vehicles was recorded in the asset register for unknown reasons.
Officials from the ODPP were led by their director, Lino Anguzu, and Agnes Kainza Nzogi, the accounting officer.
“We expected 40 vehicles; you have to prove to us why you bought less by eight vehicles. Two, we have noted that you chose not to reflect them in the books of accounts. We don’t know the intention, whether those cars are registered in DPP’s names. We may be seeing vehicles when only three were registered, and the rest are probably in people’s names,” Nsamba ruled.
However, the last statement was contested by one of the DPP officials present, who alluded to documents showing that the wagons were procured under letters of credit.
“Which means, you cannot have number plates until you receive them and are processing payment. Therefore, it was not possible that we can have them registered,” the official explained.
Price variance
Earlier, concerns had been raised by Karim Masaba regarding the cost of the 40 vehicles.
Masaba argued that while the ODPP had planned to buy the vehicles at sh140 million each, the price eventually rose to sh189 million.
However, the entity’s accounting officer, Agnes Kainza, attributed the increase to under-budgeting, saying what had initially been budgeted was found to be inadequate.
“The price at the time of budgeting didn’t turn out to be the price at the time of procuring. For example, like we can estimate a pickup to be at sh170 million, then at the time of bidding the bidders put in sh240 million,” Kainza explained.
“I under-budgeted. Chairman, I am sorry; I will improve,” she added.
She added that the vehicles in question were procured under two lots, with Toyota and Motorcare supplying each. She said that, due to market dynamics, prices had increased by the time they took the decision to spend.
“We do market surveys, but the period between when we budget and when we start spending, most times there is a lapse of about five months. So, most times the market prices change depending on the manufacturer. At times, it is beyond our control even when we try to do market surveys,” Kainza elaborated.
“What is in the financial statements shows that we bought each pickup at sh189 million when you look through the asset register behind. This is retrieved from the system. I am trying to remember; I think we had estimated sh140 million. We spent sh6.085 billion,” she cited.