Local gov't official claimed 1036 night allowances in one year

Ask any brilliant primary school pupil how many days are there in a year and you will be certain to get a chorus answer of 365.

However, for one ingenious officer in ministry of local government, the financial year ending in June 2015 proved to be one of bounty as his employer paid him night allowances for 1036 nights.

The expenditure is one of a litany of questionable expenditures highlighted in the Auditor General's report for the financial year that was yesterday under review by parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

For the second day in a row, PAC, parliament's foremost accountability committee interfaced with ministry of local government's top brass including its substantive permanent secretary, Patrick Mutabwire, who is on interdiction.

"Public standing orders 2010 travel allowances provide for maximum claim of 150 days in night allowances per year. However, it was noted that an officer claimed up to 1036 nights in one year," Auditor General, John Muwanga, noted in his report.

In total, ministry of local government, Muwanga noted, lost sh499m in questionable expenditure on night allowances as an item in 2015.

Another transaction impeached by the Auditor General include sh4b which was diverted from sh7b earmarked to procure vehicles for district chairmen and transferred to personal accounts of ministry staff ostensibly to carry out official duties.

The report also indicates that sh10b had earlier been accredited to personal accounts of ministry staff to undertake direct procurements and other activities.

Following the scam in the office of the prime minister which saw over sh30b lost, government issued accounting procedure proscribing transfer of public funds to personal accounts of civil servants.

The report also raised a red flag over sh200m meant for an international conference which failed to take place but funds nevertheless expended on logistical issues related to the project.

Besides raising concern about a number of workshops where the ministry was over billed, Muwanga's report questioned the decision to spend sh338m as consultancy fee over a workshop which aborted.

On Tuesday, Mutabwire took exception to the manner in which he had been kicked out of office on the explicit orders of the Inspector General of Government (IGG).