MPs detain Gulu University officials
Oct 21, 2009
FOUR officials of Gulu University have been detained by Parliament’s Criminal Investigations Department over failure to produce minutes authorising them to buy a generator at sh132m.
By Catherine Bekunda
FOUR officials of Gulu University have been detained by Parliament’s Criminal Investigations Department over failure to produce minutes authorising them to buy a generator at sh132m.
The officials were yesterday appearing before the public accounts committee to respond to queries raised by the Auditor General in his report of the 2006/2007 financial year. They are Okoth Ogola (university secretary), Kenneth Akena (bursar), Vincent Ojwiya (assistant bursar) and Paul Bayo (internal auditor).
The officials were held for over three hours and later released at 3:30pm after producing the council minutes and recording statements.
Scrutinising the minutes, MPs realised that the page authorising the university to buy the generator was not numbered, it had a different font style and it had no footnote.
“They have uttered false documents, they must be detained until they produce the right information,†the committee chairperson, Nandala Mafabi (FDC), said.
The Attorney General noted that the university cash books, revenue, expenditure and ledgers were not properly kept, which hindered him from ascertaining the accuracy of the balances shown in the final statements.
The MPs realised that several expenditures were not supported with bank reconciliation statements.
They established that the university balance sheet was falsified.
The university at the close of the 2005/2005 financial year had a debit of sh321m, but the balance sheet does not reflect this. A credit of sh642m was, however, created.
Committee members Tom Kazibwe and Peter Mutuluza (NRM) demanded that the officials be charged with negligence of duty until they have produced true statements.
Akena agreed with the MPs that four of the 13 books of account had to be rewritten because they were sub-standard.
The committee realised that the university had not paid sh832b to the National Social Security Fund, income tax of sh254b to the Uganda Revenue Authority and salary enhancement totalling sh504b.
The officials were given one week to produce documents listing the university staff, supporting documents for the creditors, and certified bank statements.
FOUR officials of Gulu University have been detained by Parliament’s Criminal Investigations Department over failure to produce minutes authorising them to buy a generator at sh132m.
The officials were yesterday appearing before the public accounts committee to respond to queries raised by the Auditor General in his report of the 2006/2007 financial year. They are Okoth Ogola (university secretary), Kenneth Akena (bursar), Vincent Ojwiya (assistant bursar) and Paul Bayo (internal auditor).
The officials were held for over three hours and later released at 3:30pm after producing the council minutes and recording statements.
Scrutinising the minutes, MPs realised that the page authorising the university to buy the generator was not numbered, it had a different font style and it had no footnote.
“They have uttered false documents, they must be detained until they produce the right information,†the committee chairperson, Nandala Mafabi (FDC), said.
The Attorney General noted that the university cash books, revenue, expenditure and ledgers were not properly kept, which hindered him from ascertaining the accuracy of the balances shown in the final statements.
The MPs realised that several expenditures were not supported with bank reconciliation statements.
They established that the university balance sheet was falsified.
The university at the close of the 2005/2005 financial year had a debit of sh321m, but the balance sheet does not reflect this. A credit of sh642m was, however, created.
Committee members Tom Kazibwe and Peter Mutuluza (NRM) demanded that the officials be charged with negligence of duty until they have produced true statements.
Akena agreed with the MPs that four of the 13 books of account had to be rewritten because they were sub-standard.
The committee realised that the university had not paid sh832b to the National Social Security Fund, income tax of sh254b to the Uganda Revenue Authority and salary enhancement totalling sh504b.
The officials were given one week to produce documents listing the university staff, supporting documents for the creditors, and certified bank statements.