Story by Osuta Yusuf
Arua District, Uganda
The Parliamentary Committee on Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has held Arua District technocrats, including the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), Chief Finance Officer (CFO), Human Resource Officer (HRO), and Internal Auditor (IA), accountable for failing to detect ghost workers on the district payroll.
During a two-day regional audit query meeting in Arua City, officials from the 13 districts in the West Nile region were grilled over gaps, misappropriations, and corruption identified by the Auditor General in the 2022/2023 financial year report.
According to the report, 14 unknown employees received monthly salaries for four years, amounting to 274 million shillings, causing significant financial loss to the government.
Hon. Etuka Isaac Joakino, MP for Upper Madi Okollo Constituency and PAC member, expressed disbelief that district officials could fail to detect such ghost workers.
Martin Wamboza, Principal Auditor in the Office of the Auditor General’s Arua branch, questioned the reliability of the current accounting officers, given that the anomaly went unnoticed by previous officers.
Mr. Anguyo Roy, the CFO of Arua District, who has been in office for over three years, admitted that he only approves salary payments without verifying the details of individuals on the payroll.
Hon. Onzima Godfrey, MP for Aringa North Constituency and PAC member, condemned the rampant issue of ghost salary earners across various districts and urged the police’s Criminal Investigations Department (CID) to investigate those responsible, whether in the Ministries or local governments, to hold them accountable.
In response, Arua District CAO Nicholas Ogwang requested one week to gather evidence and documentation related to the Auditor General’s queries. The PAC granted the district officials two weeks to prepare and present their findings before the committee in Parliament.
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