Ekanya on why CAOs fear his committee
Feb 14, 2007
GEOFFERY Ekanya is the chairman of the local government committee which examines the Auditor General’s reports on Local Government and is due to present a report to Parliament. <b>Mary Karugaba</b> talked to him about issues affecting local governments
GEOFFERY Ekanya is the chairman of the local government committee which examines the Auditor General’s reports on Local Government and is due to present a report to Parliament. Mary Karugaba talked to him about issues affecting local governments
Question: What is the duty of the Parliamentary local government committee?
We examine issues raised by the Auditor General’s reports about the funds that are allocated to the districts. These funds should be spent according to the Government’s treasury accounting instructions, the local government and accounting regulations 1998 and the Public Finance and Accountability Act 2003. When the Auditor General audits districts and finds that funds have been spent without following the procedures, he raises the queries, which are presented to us. We in turn call the accounting officers to defend themselves.
Many chief administrative officers do not like to appear before this committee. What is the problem?
Some CAOs cannot give convincing explanations. The CAOs also appear before the district public accounting committee and I think our level of probing is in-depth. Some of them come here thinking they have all the answers, but find themselves inadequate. However, those who have failed to follow the financial and accounting instructions are the ones who always fear to appear before the committee. Those who do the right things have no reason to fear.
Some people think CAOs are very corrupt. Is this true?
I have not come across any corrupt CAO. We always get accounting officers who fail to follow accounting regulations.
Isn’t that corruption?
Please those questions! Failure to follow the rules leads to loss of public funds and the article 164 of the Constitution is very clear. It stipulates that any officer whose action leads to loss of funds shall be held responsible and has to make good the loss, for example, accounting officers who give out advances and do not ensure that the money is refunded. There are also others whose capacity to perform is below standards, whom we have recommended for interdiction or dismissal.
But there are cases when you have detained CAOs at Parliament. Why was this so?
We retain CAOs who have been involved in forgery and hand them over to the Police. According to the letter from the director of the Criminal Investigations Department, since 2001, the department has received over 103 cases, 17 of these from the Local Government Committee. Parliament has got powers of the High Court in execution of its duties to enforce production of documents and attendance of witnesses. So if any one fails to comply, he or she is assumed to have behaved in a manner that is contrary to Parliament and that is punishable by imprisonment of up to three years.
Are the funds disbursed to the districts safe with such CAOs?
Yes and no. The money is safe with some accounting officers who are professionals, disciplined and have high integrity. However, with CAOs who are incompetent and negligent in executing their dues, the money is not safe. Such CAOs advance public funds to their staff and never follow it up to ensure accountability. They even give salary advances which are never paid back like in Kitgum, Pader, Mukono and other districts, where the accounting officers have abused their offices and advanced money even to non-staff.
How many CAOs have refunded the money?
After scrutinising districts accounts with the accounting officers who appear before the committee, many of them agree that the money was spent wrongly and accept to refund it. Others are cautioned because lack of procedure does not mean that the money is lost or misappropriated. Others apologise in writing. For instance, the former CAO of Kamwenge, who is now in Mubende, complied and wrote a fantastic apology, quoting part of the law that he violated and promised never to repeat such mistakes.
The Government recently abolished graduated tax. How is the situation at the districts?
The situation is very bad and pathetic. Local governments have failed to carry out their day-to-day activities, especially in sub-counties. The village councils are no longer getting their 25% remittance to help them execute their duties. The local councils can no longer get counterpart funding which has increased the problem of forgery because for them to access the funds, they need to show that they have money. They borrow money from private companies and deposit it on their accounts, so that their bank statements read that they have funds. The districts then use salary wages to offset the debts and divert the funds for other activities to top up salary wages. Abolition of graduated tax was introduced by the Forum for Democratic Change. President Museveni assumed that he would implement it, but he has instead implemented it wrongly. The Government should come out to support local governments.
In such a situation, what is your advice to the Government?
Most activities are being decentralised. The local government used to get 70% of the national budget. If the local government gets this money, they should be able to use it for development in order to fight poverty. Otherwise, in this situation, the little money that the districts get is used for public administration and not development.
Don’t you think you have created more enemies while executing your duties?
For me it is not about enemies. I am executing my task as provided for in the Constitution and the rules of Parliament.
Question: What is the duty of the Parliamentary local government committee?
We examine issues raised by the Auditor General’s reports about the funds that are allocated to the districts. These funds should be spent according to the Government’s treasury accounting instructions, the local government and accounting regulations 1998 and the Public Finance and Accountability Act 2003. When the Auditor General audits districts and finds that funds have been spent without following the procedures, he raises the queries, which are presented to us. We in turn call the accounting officers to defend themselves.
Many chief administrative officers do not like to appear before this committee. What is the problem?
Some CAOs cannot give convincing explanations. The CAOs also appear before the district public accounting committee and I think our level of probing is in-depth. Some of them come here thinking they have all the answers, but find themselves inadequate. However, those who have failed to follow the financial and accounting instructions are the ones who always fear to appear before the committee. Those who do the right things have no reason to fear.
Some people think CAOs are very corrupt. Is this true?
I have not come across any corrupt CAO. We always get accounting officers who fail to follow accounting regulations.
Isn’t that corruption?
Please those questions! Failure to follow the rules leads to loss of public funds and the article 164 of the Constitution is very clear. It stipulates that any officer whose action leads to loss of funds shall be held responsible and has to make good the loss, for example, accounting officers who give out advances and do not ensure that the money is refunded. There are also others whose capacity to perform is below standards, whom we have recommended for interdiction or dismissal.
But there are cases when you have detained CAOs at Parliament. Why was this so?
We retain CAOs who have been involved in forgery and hand them over to the Police. According to the letter from the director of the Criminal Investigations Department, since 2001, the department has received over 103 cases, 17 of these from the Local Government Committee. Parliament has got powers of the High Court in execution of its duties to enforce production of documents and attendance of witnesses. So if any one fails to comply, he or she is assumed to have behaved in a manner that is contrary to Parliament and that is punishable by imprisonment of up to three years.
Are the funds disbursed to the districts safe with such CAOs?
Yes and no. The money is safe with some accounting officers who are professionals, disciplined and have high integrity. However, with CAOs who are incompetent and negligent in executing their dues, the money is not safe. Such CAOs advance public funds to their staff and never follow it up to ensure accountability. They even give salary advances which are never paid back like in Kitgum, Pader, Mukono and other districts, where the accounting officers have abused their offices and advanced money even to non-staff.
How many CAOs have refunded the money?
After scrutinising districts accounts with the accounting officers who appear before the committee, many of them agree that the money was spent wrongly and accept to refund it. Others are cautioned because lack of procedure does not mean that the money is lost or misappropriated. Others apologise in writing. For instance, the former CAO of Kamwenge, who is now in Mubende, complied and wrote a fantastic apology, quoting part of the law that he violated and promised never to repeat such mistakes.
The Government recently abolished graduated tax. How is the situation at the districts?
The situation is very bad and pathetic. Local governments have failed to carry out their day-to-day activities, especially in sub-counties. The village councils are no longer getting their 25% remittance to help them execute their duties. The local councils can no longer get counterpart funding which has increased the problem of forgery because for them to access the funds, they need to show that they have money. They borrow money from private companies and deposit it on their accounts, so that their bank statements read that they have funds. The districts then use salary wages to offset the debts and divert the funds for other activities to top up salary wages. Abolition of graduated tax was introduced by the Forum for Democratic Change. President Museveni assumed that he would implement it, but he has instead implemented it wrongly. The Government should come out to support local governments.
In such a situation, what is your advice to the Government?
Most activities are being decentralised. The local government used to get 70% of the national budget. If the local government gets this money, they should be able to use it for development in order to fight poverty. Otherwise, in this situation, the little money that the districts get is used for public administration and not development.
Don’t you think you have created more enemies while executing your duties?
For me it is not about enemies. I am executing my task as provided for in the Constitution and the rules of Parliament.