Agriculture Ministry Suspends 15 Bn Shilling Goat Project Amid Auditor General’s Queries

The Ministry of Agriculture has announced the suspension of the 15 billion shillings project aimed at purchasing goats under the Goat Rollout Project from South Africa and Namibia.

This decision comes after queries were raised in the Auditor General’s report for the financial year 2022/2023.

Maj Gen David Kasula Kyomukama, the permanent secretary of the Ministry, made this announcement during an interaction with the Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, acknowledging concerns raised by MPs regarding the project’s execution.

MPs on the committee scrutinized Ministry officials regarding the expenditure of over 7.4 million Shillings on each goat imported from Namibia and South Africa, only to find that the animals were dying within the first week after being received by the beneficiaries.

These questions arose as part of the examination of audit queries highlighted by the Auditor General’s report for December 2023. The report questioned the implementation of the 15 billion shillings Goat Roll-Out project across 7 districts, where the Ministry procured 2,902 local indigenous goats worth 1.156 billion shillings and imported 71 goats at a cost of 528 million shillings.

Maj Gen Kyomukama assured the committee that no budget allocation had been made for the project in the 2023/2024 financial year due to the issues highlighted in the Auditor General’s report.

“I can assure you that we have not budgeted for this activity for 2023/2024 financial year, we took proactive action after noticing some of the issues that you are talking about. “he said

Steven Kajura, the Project Coordinator at the Ministry of Agriculture, defended the high cost of each goat, stating that they were of high pedigree sourced from South Africa, and the expenses included insurance and flight costs.

“The goats were got from South Africa & Namibia, we bought high pedigree animals and that cost includes cost insurance and flight so it came to Shs7.3Mn. The exotic pedigree animals are usually very expensive, you are free to google and you will come to around the same range.” he said

However, the Auditor General’s report revealed that all 150 goats distributed to Nakasongola district and 259 out of 700 distributed to Gomba district died, resulting in significant losses to the government.

MPs raised concerns about the high mortality rate of the supposedly high-pedigree goats.

The kashari North MP Basil Bataringaya questioned why the goats of such high pedigree were died in the first week of distribution.

He asked Kajura to explain whether it was as a result of disease or a felony on the part of the supplier identified as Ssembaguya Estates. In addition , the Pac vice chair Goretti Namuga explained that the report reveals how beneficiaries stated that most of the animals arrived with symptoms like cough, weakness, were emaciated and nasal discharges.

Kajura attributed the high mortality to the failure of the supplier, Ssembaguya Estates, to isolate, tag, and vaccinate the imported goats, as well as the outbreak of goat plague in many districts of Uganda.

“The mortalities were high for two reasons, one being the goat plague which broke out in many districts of Uganda and Ssembaguya was purchasing goats from breeders to distribute to farmers.”

The committee further questioned the circumstances under which Ssembaguya Estates was contracted for the project without competitive bidding.

Joseph Sewungu, the Kalungu West Legislator, requested Ministry officials to provide all relevant documents regarding the sourcing of the supplier, highlighting previous controversies surrounding Ssembaguya’s capacity as a breeder.