EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF A CONSOLIDATED REPORT OF THE CoMMTTTEE ON PUBLTC ACCOUNTS (LOCAL GOVERNMENTI ON 139 REPORTS OF THE AUDITOR GENERAL ON DISTRICT LOCAL GOVERNMENTS AND MUNICIPAL COUNCILS FOR FINANCIAL YEAR z0Lsl L6 Rt, Hon Speaker and Hon Members, the Public Accounts Committee on Local Government has considered the Report of the Auditor General on Local Governments and Municipal Councils for the FY 20151 16. The Committee handled 139 reports and in carrying out this assignment, regional public hearings were held and on spot field assessment were carried out for specific projects. Accounting Officers were accorded audiences to clarify on the different matters under their dockets. Rt. Hon Speaker, I am going to present a summary of the report that has been fully signed by the Committee members. 1.O Budget Allocation and Performance 1.1 Share of the National Budget to Local Governments Parliament appropriated a sum of UGX 23.97 Trillion for Government expenditure and this included UGX 2.5 Trillion (lO.4o/o) for service delivery inlocal Governments. At the end of the financial year, UGX 2.16 Trillion (86.4%) was released to local governments leaving a balance of UGX 332 Billion (13.6%) that was not released to local governments. Obsenrations The Committee observed that: i. Local Governments' share of the National Budget was low and this undermined the principle of decentrabzation for service delivery. ta.'1 ,? Itt'_.i Page | 1 rl{i: n+i; r Irt 4< L1 rrAil L AtltE N T p oF UGANDA 0. BO X 7 1 KAMPALA L.2 Local Revenue Shortfall i. A sample of 68 Local governments, showed that out of the total projection of UGX 39.74 Billion local revenue, only UGX 28.76 Billion was collected leaving a balance of 10 Billion uncollected, which translated into an under performance of 27o/o. o least performing Local Governments: o Kamuli District at l7oh o Abim District at 3Oo/o o Tororo District at 38%o o Outstanding Local Governments: o Kasese Municipal Council at960/o, o Mbarara Municipal Council at93o/o. 11. the Ministry of Local Government has continued to interfere in matters of local revenue management through allocation of market stalls, setting park fees and imposing KCCA policies on the management of taxi/bus parks on the Local Governments. a number of districts exuded laxity in the collection of debts leading to accumulation of receivables for instance Mbale Municipality had receivables amounting to UGX 751,478,737 . 1V Local Governments have failed to levy and collect revenue from known modern farms in the districts of: Kiruhura, Sembabule, Mbarara, Gomba, Nwoya, Kiryandongo, Kyankwanzi and Lyantonde. V many local governments have entrusted the task of compelling individuals to meet their financial obligations to Council to Law enforcement Officers who have on many occasions exuded errant behavior including protecting defaulters at a fee. Revenue assessment should be done annually but many local governments are using results of outdated revenue assessment exercises Page | 2 and others do not even have revenue registers. There is general under estimation, under collection and under projection of revenues. Recommendations i. the Ministry of Local Government should desist from interfering in areas of local revenue collection in the local Governments that are otherwise decentralized ii. the Ministry of Local Government should support the local governments in procuring an independent company to conduct local revenue assessment in Districts and Municipalities. iii. The Ministry of Public Service should in the restructuring exercise provide for enforcement officers in the District establishment. iv. Accounting Officers together with Finance Officers should ensure that all debts are collected in a timely manner, and where debtors fail to pay, court redress should be sought. v. Districts and Municipality authorities should in collaboration with Uganda Revenue Authority conduct tax sensitization workshops/seminars among local communities with the view to enhancing revenue collections. 2. Understaffing i. The average staffing levels in local governments stood at 68%o for the sampled districts, with dire cases of 14oh in Kalangala District Local Government and the most staffed was Kibuku District Local Government with 90% of its establishment. ii. Understaffing in Local Governments constrains Service Delivery. iii. Districts have failed to attract some cadres due to low remuneration and yet higher qualifications were required specifically the posts of District Engineer, District Health officers and Chief Finance Officer. iv. The Committee noted that there is a practice of ring-fencing some jobs for the individuais born in that District for example in Apac, the Chief Page | 3 Finance Officer had retired but was given a contract which was also renewed. Recommendations i. The Ministry of Public Service, Ministry of Local Government and Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development should come up with guidelines aimed at equalising the staffing levels among local governments. ii. Ministry of Local Government should work with the Ministry of Public Service to waive some non-critical requirements for positions like District Engineers and Chief Finance Officers that have continuously failed to attract candidates 4. Payroll Anomalies The Committee was concerned that payroll anomalies were a source of budget leakages and denied the serving and retired staff their rightful entitlements. Recommendations The Committee recommends that Accounting Officers should be held responsible for avoidable payroll anomalies. 5. Unsupported Pension Payments The Committee observed that the Ministry of Fublic Service had not transferred the pension files to the Local Governments which caused delays in the payment of pensions. The Committee notes that this contravenes Article 254 of the Constitution. Recommendations Page | 4 The Committee recommends that Ministry of Public should immediately release all the original pension files to respective loca1 governments to enable them process pension payments. 6.1 Drug Supply Chain Management in Health Centers 6.1.1 Discrepancies between orders and deliveries of medicines . there were discrepancies and delays in drug supplies by NMS against the entities requisitions. Recommendations i. There should be a review of the MOU between Government of Uganda and NMS with a view to reversing the monopoly by NMS; ii. NMS should ensure that health units are supplied with the exact drugs they requisition for and at the right time in line with the last mile delivery requirement. iii. The Accounting Officer should ensure reconciliation of drug orders and dtug deliveries at the time of drug deliveries to the Health units. 6.1.2 Non Disposal of Expired Medicines i. NMS uses the Push system for supply of medicines to Health Centers IIIs and IIs, which results into supply of unwanted drugs hence expiry of medicines with shorter shelf life. ii. Some of the expired medicines were donations to the health units outside their requisition and some in-charges requisition for wrong medicines. iii. The mandate of NMS should be amended to include the disposal of expired drugs since the entity already has the infrastructure to carry out the activity. Currently the trucks that deliver medicines return to NMS empty. Page | 5 1V In some instances the expired drugs are mixed up with the new stock in the same shelves as witnessed in the districts of Apac, Butambala and Kibaale. V M/s Green Label that was contracted by the Ministry of Health to collect and dispose off expired medicines from the Health units does not have the capacity to efficiently collect expired medicines. For example Nakaseke District reported a case where they used a saloon vehicle to collect expired medicines. Recommendations i. NMS should stop using the Push System but rather supply according to the established requirements of the different health units. ii. Health units should not accept donations of medicines that they do not need. iii. The mandate of NMS should be amended to include disposal of expired medicines since the entity already has the infrastructure to carry out this activity. 7.O Low Recovery of Youth Livelihood Project (YLPI Funds Ghost groups have been formed by some Community Development Officers (CDOs) due to ieakage in the selection process. Recommendations The Committee recommends that: - i. Government should sanction recovery of funds from persons implicated in mismanaging the Fund ii. Government should review the structural objectives and guidelines of the YLP with the view of realizins value for money. iii. non-compliant beneficiaries of the fund should be arrested to ensure that the groups make all efforts to recover the funds. Page | 6 8. Lack of Land Titles i. the Local governments do not have the financial capacity to have all their land titled. Therefore the Central Government should facilitate Local Governments Country wide to secure land over which they can operate. ii. government institutions in some of the Districts and Municipalities in Buganda and Bunyoro regions are sitting on cultural land. Recommendations i. Government takes up the responsibility of securing Land Titles for its lands country wide. ii. Government should provide land for service delivery in its entities that are located on cultural lands. iii. Districts and Municipal Council authorities should, in the meantime, institute measures of demarcating government land within their jurisdiction. 9. Payables and Receivables not realized 1 the Accounting Officers in a number of cases over-committed