The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has suspended the review of the Ministry of Trade’s December 2023 Auditor General report following allegations of bias from Permanent Secretary Geraldine Ssali. The suspension occurred after Ministry officials were accused of withholding documents related to the accountability of cooperatives compensation funds during the audit.
During the PAC session, Butambala County MP Muwanga Kivumbi criticized the Ministry of Trade for questioning the validity of the Auditor General’s report instead of seeking a legal opinion from the Attorney General. Kivumbi expressed dismay, stating, “I would be the last person to consider a response where an Accounting Officer is attempting to impeach the powers of the Committee and of Parliament on matters of approval. Is it your legal person that did this? You have the Attorney General and he is the same for Parliament and if you wanted the Attorney General’s opinion, you should have written to him, express your concerns, sought his opinion and get his opinion to us. Did you get the opinion of the Attorney General on this interpretation?”
In response, Ssali denied any intention of undermining Parliament’s authority, stating, “I don’t even want to use the word impeachment because I remember how that word was overused in the US. It was alien to me; it isn’t anything that we intended to impeach the powers of Parliament in any way and it isn’t possible that we can do that. If our submissions came out in any way to suggest that, insinuate we apologize for that.”
Ssali further accused Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka of ignoring her requests for legal guidance on disbursing funds to cooperatives. She mentioned that despite seeking the Attorney General’s opinion twice, she never received a written response.
Addressing the allegations of missing records, Ssali said, “I didn’t think it was fair for the Auditor General to say that records of the cooperative unions were missing. I think there was a miscommunication between my office and the Auditor General’s office. At the time when records of the 8 cooperatives were requested, they were provided.”
The Auditor General’s report uncovered significant financial irregularities and inefficiencies within the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, amounting to approximately UGX 196.389 billion.
The report reveals that UGX 3.544 billion was diverted from its intended budgeted activities without obtaining the necessary approvals. UGX 17.5 billion to Cooperative Unions and Societies, yet only UGX 6.640 billion was included in the Ministry’s approved budget. The additional UGX 10.850 billion was not supported by either the original budget or a supplementary budget.
A staggering UGX 139.147 billion was paid to various Cooperative Unions without individual files to substantiate the amounts claimed or verify the existence of these cooperatives.
Despite not budgeting for Non-Tax Revenue (NTR), the Ministry collected UGX 64 million by the end of the financial year.
Of the UGX 410 billion allocated for seven outputs, including sixteen activities, only two activities were fully implemented. Seven were partially completed, and seven were not executed at all. Additionally, one output with two activities worth UGX 1.19 billion was entirely unimplemented.
The Ministry made payments totaling UGX 13.889 billion to individuals and law firms, bypassing the intended cooperative societies. There was no confirmation or acknowledgement of these funds by the cooperatives, raising concerns about potential misappropriation.
Payments of UGX 5.369 billion intended for war claims compensation were funneled through law firms, but Cooperative Unions received only UGX 0.650 billion, as reflected in their bank statements.
Despite being listed in the work plan, UGX 6.140 billion was not disbursed to the cooperative unions as planned.
The report identified that UGX 16.9 billion was irregularly paid to eleven Cooperative Unions not included in the approved work plan. These unions included Jinja Multipurpose Cooperative Society, Bumwambu Growers Cooperative Union Limited, and Busoga Growers Cooperative Union, among others.
Verification reports failed to show any participation from Cooperative Union members in agreeing on the claimed amounts. Only verification committee members signed the reports, and there were no minutes to document the resolutions. This casts doubt on the legitimacy of these cooperatives and suggests possible fund misappropriation to third-party law firms.
Procurements totaling UGX 4.4 billion were not executed despite being part of the Ministry’s procurement plan.
The Ministry opted for direct procurement methods, spending UGX 197 million, instead of alternative methods that could have ensured fair pricing and competition.
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