Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee-Central Government scheduled meeting with Uganda Police Force (UPF) officials over audit queries has been called off.
The letter dated 20th November 2019 is copied to PAC Chairperson Mafabi and Inspector General of Police (IGP) Martin Okoth Ochola.
The committee chaired by Budadiri West MP Nathan Nandala Mafabi was scheduled to meet the Police top management on Thursday. However, the team didn’t show up and requested a new date.
Police officials were expected to make responses to Auditor General John Muwanga’s audit queries raised in his June 2017 and 2018 report.
In the 2018 report, Police are expected to explain among others undeclared funds totaling 17.1 billion shillings on the Force’s accounts, the excess expenditure of 102 billion Shillings outside the appropriated budget and others.
Some of the audits queries highlighted by the Auditor General in his 2017 report for police response include an outstanding 52.6 billion shillings in uncollected fines and penalties under the Express Penalty Scheme (EPS) since 2007 to the end of 2016.
The Auditor-General says that uncollected revenue affects service delivery and exposes the entity to the risk of loss of revenue.
Auditor General Muwanga reported that a sample of 34 stations visited in September 2017 revealed that UGX.2,894,663,000 revenue from express penalty tickets was expected from these stations however, the actual revenue collected could not be ascertained.
He said Government risks losing revenue in case the defaulters manipulate the inadequate internal controls to avoid paying the penalty.
Still, in his 2017 report, the Auditor General observed that an amount of 51.9 billion was stated as outstanding arrears with a significant increase of 90% from 27.3 billion in the financial year 2015/201616.
The other matters highlighted in the 2017 report was the expenditure of 2.095 billion in respect of rent for several stations countrywide without following proper procurement procedures of acquiring premises, inadequate staff accommodation, among others.
