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ULC in spot of bother after AG reveals Shs200b fraud
LEFT: Ms Beatrice Byenkya Nyakaisiki, the chairperson of Uganda Land Commission. PHOTO/ ISAAC KASAMANI
RIGHT: Mr John Muwanga, Auditor General,
PHOTO/ DAVID LUBOWA
What you need to know:
The AG report says the Commission lost in the excess of Shs5.2b, paying different people for the same pieces of land.
The Uganda Land Commission (ULC) is feared to have lost in the excess of Shs200b to ghost claimants, double compensations for land from private individuals as well as payment of goods and services at inflated costs.
The commission was also found to have made payments for various goods and services it claimed to have received without showing any documentation in the form of Local Purchase Orders (LPOs), delivery notes and other contract documents.
The slippages are detailed in the Auditor General’s report on the financial statements of the Commission for the period ended June 30, 2021.
The Auditor General discovered that the Commission paid about 27 people Shs6,791,760,000, “but [they] were not on the validated list of domestic arrears.”
The Auditor General’s report comes after the ULC slipped into turmoil following the arraignment of erstwhile chairperson, Ms Beatrice Byenkya Nyakaisiki before the Anti-Corruption Court on January 11.
Ms Byenkya was charged with abuse of office and obstruction of an investigation into alleged corruption at ULC.
She had been calling for an investigation into several transactions at the semi-autonomous body that was established by Article 236 of the 1995 Constitution and is charged with, among others, managing the Land Fund.
The Land Fund was established in 2002 as a multipurpose resource envelope meant to serve targeted beneficiaries, including tenants seeking to buy or own land, government seeking to buy land for redistribution to bonafide occupants or resettlement of the landless and to provide loans to persons wanting to acquire titles or even survey their land.
Whereas it had previously been used to compensate absentee landlords in Bugangaizi and Buyaga Counties in Kibaale, the Fund had also been the subject of several allegations of abuse.
During the two-year lifespan of the Commission of Inquiry into land matters, it was discovered that dubious claims—such as one of Shs100m for a rock around where Isimba Hydro Power Project is located and others amounting to Shs132b—had been approved under mysterious payments.
Before her appearance in court, Ms Byenkya repeated claims of “overwhelming fraud”, saying that there was proof of double payments. The Auditor General’s findings appear to vindicate her.
The report says that the Commission lost in the excess of Shs5.2b, paying different people for the same pieces of land.
“In some instances, different pieces of land for different claimants compensated lacked description of plot numbers,” the report says, adding, “In addition, there were no authorisation minutes on the files clearing the payments contrary to Commission guidelines.”
The report also reveals that the management team at the Commission “regretted the error” and has started putting “proper descriptions and plot numbers on all payments.” It is, however, mute on whether the ULC will be taking any measures to recover resources lost. This also includes “nine persons [who] were paid Shs1,153,510,000 whose claims had been rejected by the Internal Auditor General.”
Ms Byenkya had claimed in an earlier interview that there was no transparency in the manner in which decisions on payments are arrived at. She cited the absence of proper records.
“August 2020 we just landed on a list somewhere and we found that over 677 people had been fully paid…it is a challenge to get the list and know [who has been paid and what] because some claimants are recycled,” she said in an earlier interview.
Unsupported payments, ghosts
The report noted the absence of “necessary documents” to support a claim that the Commission paid Shs14b as compensation for land. Fears of “possible financial loss through fictitious payments” were not allayed.
It also adds that the Secretary to the Commission, Ms Barbarah Imaryo, who is also the Accounting Officer, did not fulfil an earlier promise to furnish the Auditor General with documents to support the said expenditure.
The report indicates that the tale of unsupported payments dates back to the financial years 2019/2020 and 2020/2021. In the financial year 2019/2020, Shs15b was reportedly spent on what the Auditor General described as overstated payables (inflated amounts of goods and services) and another Shs4b on unrecognisable receivables (no evidence of receipt of goods and services).
On February 10, 2021, Ms Byenkya, then Lands minister, Ms Beti Kamya and her junior at the time, Ms Persis Namuganza, clashed over the line ministry’s request for a Shs12.1b supplementary budget.
This was intended to compensate six people—including Dodovico Mwanje’s Ephraim Enterprises, which had earlier razed St Peter’s Church in Ndeeba. A further Shs3.8b was to be paid to Medard Kiconco for 3.89 hectares of land in Lusanja.
Ms Byenkya later told members of the Budget Committee of Parliament that the Commission had not asked for the money.
“Much as the Commission needs the money, we never requested for this supplementary budget. I want it to be on record. So when I hear this, I just think the minister is trying to access the money using our institution. That is irregular. How can this be?” Ms Byenkya queried.
Ms Byenkya told Parliament that names of people who had earlier been paid had returned to the list of claimants while other claims were inflated. She was quick to illuminate an unfairness in the handling of claims.
In state of shock
She said: “I am shocked to learn that such an amount of money was going to be given to only six beneficiaries. As the Commission, we have been trying to spread the money so that all victims can get something.”
She added: The disadvantaged ones do not have the economic revenue from their money. Many of them have become old and they need assistance and medication. Giving Shs12.1b to only six people out of the thousands is irregular and inhuman.”
Now the Auditor General’s report has noted that “neither the management nor the Commission were involved in the request for the said supplementary budget”, adding that “the Accounting Officer explained that the Commission did not initiate any request for the said supplementary.”
The report further noted that the supplementary budget was tagged to “payments of individual persons” and that the funds that were allocated to the Commission exceeded the Commission’s requirement by Shs459m, which the Commission used to pay other claimants.
Junior Lands minister Sam Mayanja confirmed receipt of the Auditor General’s report. He told Saturday Monitor that the contents will be studied with a view of taking remedial action.
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