Prime
Government auditors on spot over massive corruption
Mr Muhakanizi
Kampala
Conspiracy by internal auditors and accountants in the government departments breeds the growing theft of public resources, according to information obtained by Sunday Monitor. Investigation carried out by this newspaper shows that audit officials are cutting deals with accounting officials instead of checking the robbery of public funds.
The public Finance Act 2003 mandates internal auditors to ensure among others that before any government spending is done, all systems are followed and accountability made. But in almost every report of the Auditor General, there are always findings about public funds being spent without accountability and outside set guidelines. This has raised the question as to whether the internal auditors actually do their job.
According to some of the government auditors whom Sunday Monitor spoke to, instead of exposing accounting officers who steal from the public coffers, the internal auditors have reportedly turned into ‘internal consultants’ who help government accountants to steal public funds. This reportedly explains the difference in findings between reports of the auditor general and internal audit with the latter usually silent on cases where huge funds were spent without accountability.
Money theft
In fact, sources say that most government departments don’t even know the fleet of cars they own because the auditors no longer take inventory as they are preoccupied with helping the accounting officials to explain away the theft of monies.
The Ministry of Finance especially the accounting officer who controls internal auditors is blamed for the laxity in supervision. A report by the African Peer Review Mechanism National Commission recently revealed that corruption and ineffective public institutions were undermining good governance in the country. And the World Bank in a 2005 report estimated that Uganda loses about $300m (sh510b) per year through corruption and procurement malpractices. Following the increased pilfering of public funds and the outcry from donors, the Finance ministry has now mooted reforms aimed at tightening the noose on internal auditors.
Sunday Monitor understands that top bureaucrats in Finance were proposing changes to the Finance Act so that Parliament amends it. Some of the amendments proposed include the change of reporting lines for internal auditors from the Accountant General’s Office to the Commissioner Internal audit and inspectorate. “We are aware that internal audit has not been functioning well that is why we are reforming,” said Mr Keith Muhakanizi, the deputy secretary to the Treasury.
Waking up
Asked why the Finance ministry was only waking up too late to shake the alleged thieves after they had accumulated enough, Mr Muhakanizi said: “We are very sorry but we are going to take action.” Although he declined to discuss other proposals in the reforms, sources told Sunday Monitor that the top bureaucrats now want to ensure that instead of transferring the internal auditors after at least every three years, the law should allow for less time so as not allow them “hold territories for long.”
Sunday Monitor also understands that they want internal auditors even after they have been transferred from a department, to explain why things went wrong if the Auditor General discovers anomalies. “We want the law to demand that the internal auditors’ show evidence that they had raised those issues to the accountants if they are later discovered by the Auditor General. We want to compare the reports of the auditor general and internal audit to see who is doing a good job,” a source said.
No support
However, Sunday Monitor also understands that some dedicated internal auditors were not getting support from accounting officers in some ministries, who reportedly do not appreciate their work.
Instead of appreciating what the auditors say, the accounting officers reportedly blackmail them and accuse them of witch-hunt. Because of this unhealthy relationship, sources say most internal auditors have adopted the old adage: ‘If you can’t fight them then join them’.
This has resulted into the audit department to be described as “dead”. According to the Accountant General, Mr Gustavio Bwoch, the proposed amendment to the Finance Act was “to bring in more controls” because the one of 2003 appears ineffective. He said there was need to put new things in the law to ensure that auditors do risk management and internal control.
Sources said the ministries which usually receive big budgets and donor funds like Water, ICT, Lands, Agriculture, Public Service and Health were mainly blacklisted for their poor use of public funds.
