Soroti returns funds

By Nathan Etengu Over sh200m for capital development programmes for this financial year in Soroti district was returned to the Ministry of finance after the district failed to utilise it. This was disclosed recently by the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), Mr. George Omuge. He said some of the money was received on June 29, a day to the end of the financial year. The financial regulations provide that any funds not spent by the end of the financial year be returned to the Treasury after which the beneficiary district would seek for the same as a supplementary budget. Omuge said the money returned to the Treasury included that for the construction of theatres and for road maintenance. He said the money for constructing a theatre at Serere Health Centre was returned after the contractor failed to claim it. The acting deputy CAO, Mr. Felix Esoku, told The New Vision that the money was returned in accordance with financial regulations. “The district would have been disqualified from receiving any more funds from the central government if it had not complied with the financial regulations,” he said. Esoku said his office had made a fresh requisition for the funds under a supplementary budget. Capt. Mike Mukula, the state minister for health in-charge of general duties, asked the district movement committee members to return the funds after the district failed to utilise them.