Buhweju district council has resolved to give 30 per cent of embezzled funds to the recovering entities.
According to the councillors, although the entities receive funding from the government, the 30 per cent commission is meant to motivate the teams to work hard and recover stolen public funds.
The entities mandated to investigate and recover public funds in local governments include the public accounts committee, internal auditor and district council among others. Deo Atuhaire, the Buhweju district LC V chairperson, says that the 30 per cent commission is to motivate the entities to step up their efforts.
He says that the recovering entities have small budgets, which affects their operations. According to Atuhaire, the recovered money is recorded as local revenue, which falls under their mandate.
However, Rodgers Bishanga Rwoozi, one of the councillors, says the proposed commission should have been allocated to service delivery. Francis Nuwajuna, the Buhweju social services secretary, says that most committees have been poorly performing despite having budget allocations.
Deusdedit Beinemugisha, the chairperson Buhweju public accounts committee has welcomed the district resolution, saying that the Shs 5.2 million they receive from the central government annually is not enough to conduct hearings.
He says that the seven-member committee that is supposed to sit three times each quarter is expected to receive allowances and lunch for each sitting, which makes the Shs 1.2 million they receive each quarter very little.
The chairperson pockets Shs 160,000 each sitting while members pocket Shs 120,000 that he says is small for someone fighting corruption. Damba Henry, the Buhweju chief administrative officer, says that money will supplement to the already provided funding stipulated under section 88 (10) of the Local Government Act CAP 243.
Local Government public accounts committees are established under Section 88 (7-9) of the Local Government Act, CAP 243. They are mandated to examine reports of the internal auditor or other inquiry reports about the local government.
The reports of the committee are required to be submitted to the district council for deliberation and recommendations. The Inter audit department is established under Section 90 of the Local Governments Act Cap 243 in every district whose duties and responsibilities are also well defined by regulations 2007.
The internal audit department receives Shs 18 million annually to conduct audits. Recently, Buhweju district public accounts committee directed five district officials to refund Shs 40 million that was misappropriated. The officers fraudulently withdrew the money that was meant to procure motorcycles.
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