Police quiz Kyambogo varsity officials over missing food
Sep 16, 2009
Seven Kyambogo University officials were yesterday questioned by Parliament’s criminal investigators after they failed to account for thousands of kilogrammes of university foodstuffs.
By Mary Karugaba
Seven Kyambogo University officials were yesterday questioned by Parliament’s criminal investigators after they failed to account for thousands of kilogrammes of university foodstuffs.
The domestic bursar in charge of food, Mugisha Barigye, failed to convince the public accounts committee that the foodstuffs were received and consumed by the right user departments.
The other officials were four former store managers Godfrey Tusiime, Frederic Wambwa, David Kinawola and Christine Amina, the internal auditor, M. Babirye and the procurement officer.
Discussing the Auditor General’s report, the MPs discovered that about 10,000kg of sugar worth sh20m meant for staff and food worth about sh500m were procured, issued out without being requisitioned for and authorised by responsible officers.
The MPs also discovered that many items were not recorded in the store ledgers, menu books and issue vouchers, rendering their supply doubtful.
The kitchen records showed that the menu book was misplaced for one year, only to be discovered later. The officers failed to produce documents to backup their arguments and instead started levelling counter accusations against each other.
Wambwa and Kinawola argued that the queries should be directed to Barigye. “I tried to do my work, but I was doing two jobs concurrently. I was posted as an accounts assistant, but I was also asked to manage stores. The work was too much and I could not post the items on the ledger fully.†Wambwa argued.
All the officers were assigned between 2006 and 2007 to man the stores, but were later transferred to other sections within a year, due to mismanagement.
The committee chairman, Nandala Mafabi (FDC), noted that the stores department was a major area vulnerable to theft.
Tom Kazibwe and Saleh Kamba (both NRM) said the officers should be held responsible for negligence of duty.
Seven Kyambogo University officials were yesterday questioned by Parliament’s criminal investigators after they failed to account for thousands of kilogrammes of university foodstuffs.
The domestic bursar in charge of food, Mugisha Barigye, failed to convince the public accounts committee that the foodstuffs were received and consumed by the right user departments.
The other officials were four former store managers Godfrey Tusiime, Frederic Wambwa, David Kinawola and Christine Amina, the internal auditor, M. Babirye and the procurement officer.
Discussing the Auditor General’s report, the MPs discovered that about 10,000kg of sugar worth sh20m meant for staff and food worth about sh500m were procured, issued out without being requisitioned for and authorised by responsible officers.
The MPs also discovered that many items were not recorded in the store ledgers, menu books and issue vouchers, rendering their supply doubtful.
The kitchen records showed that the menu book was misplaced for one year, only to be discovered later. The officers failed to produce documents to backup their arguments and instead started levelling counter accusations against each other.
Wambwa and Kinawola argued that the queries should be directed to Barigye. “I tried to do my work, but I was doing two jobs concurrently. I was posted as an accounts assistant, but I was also asked to manage stores. The work was too much and I could not post the items on the ledger fully.†Wambwa argued.
All the officers were assigned between 2006 and 2007 to man the stores, but were later transferred to other sections within a year, due to mismanagement.
The committee chairman, Nandala Mafabi (FDC), noted that the stores department was a major area vulnerable to theft.
Tom Kazibwe and Saleh Kamba (both NRM) said the officers should be held responsible for negligence of duty.