Indebted UPDF at risk of disconnection

Barracks and other military facilities around the country are on the verge of losing water and electricity supply due to mounting debts that now exceed Shs. 35 billion.

This was revealed during an interface between MPs on the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and Defense Ministry officials today.

Edith Buturo, the ministry undersecretary tagged this to meager allocations towards settling utility bills.

“We find ourselves in domestic arrears every year. Our expenditure on electricity alone is about 26 billion shillings and water is about 7.7 billion. The release was 7.3 while water was 7.3,” she said.

This explanation, however, didn’t impress legislators who of late are increasingly exasperated by similar queries.

Joseph Gonzaga Ssewungu, the Kalungu west MP asked what recurrent supplementary funds do.

According to Ssewungu, it has become common practice for the ministry to request for resources under classified expenditure without clearly giving proper accountability.

“In every financial year, defense gets more money. This year they want 4 trillion. So you get enough money but the issue of utilities you are not giving it enough time” he observes.

Ssewungu also wondered what happened to Defence’s plan to transit from postpaid to pre-paid electricity metering which he says would have greatly sliced these utility bills.

“I think we need to take interest and go on a spot visit to these barracks and see what happens”, Ssewungu opined.

In response, Mrs Buturo said the ministry is soon concluding transition to prepaid meters and that, compliance mechanisms are in full force across military installations.

“Using the chief of staff’s office we have done a lot especially in the management of utility items in the barracks.  Commanders are directly involved in the reading of meters jointly with the service provider”

Hon Nandala Mafabi the committee chairperson, in the end, directed the ministry officials to present a matrix of expenditure on these items and a quantitative list of postpaid and prepaid meters.