UPE probe hired cars at sh366m

By Moses Walubiri

The Auditor General (AG), John Muwanga, has blown the whistle on a string of accountability concerns including alleged profligacy by the commission of inquiry into the Universal Primary Education (UPE) in his annual report for the year ending 30th June 2011.

According to the report, the five member commission expended sh366.5m on hiring vehicles for upcountry trips in a single year (2010 -2011).

It was noted that the Commission headed by Justice Ezekiel Muhanguzi contracted four firms s hiring each vehicle at sh232, 000 per day, excluding fuel.

This was deemed a waste of public funds by the AG. "I explained to the accounting officer that with proper planning, the funds utilized for hire of vehicles were adequate to out rightly procure motor vehicles for use by the Commission and would revert to the Ministry upon completion of the Inquiry," the AG noted in his report.

He added: "I advised the Accounting Officer to always ensure that adequate planning is undertaken in such instances so as to ensure that optimal decisions are made regarding utilization of government funds."

 The AG further stated that commission's records also revealed that a total of sh74m advanced to various staff during the financial year under review was not accounted for.

 "I have advised the Accounting Officer to take appropriate measures to ensure full accountability or recovery of the funds in question," the AG noted,

The Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the management of UPE/USE was instituted by President Museveni in October 2009.

The commission was tasked to assess the capacity (human, technical and financial) of the central government and the districts with regard to supervision of construction projects in government schools under UPE and USE schemes.

 The commission was to inquire into the unit cost and quality of construction of both primary and secondary schools' facilities and to determine the extent to which civil works executed by the Central and local governments were shoddy and to make appropriate recommendations amongst others.

The probe which was granted a total budget of sh7.1b was in February this year suspended by parliament in a blazing bipartisan debate over allegedly failing to release a single report despite having its deadline twice extended.

However, the decision was later rescinded by the NRM caucus in a special session chaired by the president and concerns over its failure to release an interim report referred to the Social Services Committee of parliament.  The commission is set to release its final report in August.