Shs 1.2 billion paid to ghost workers

By Moses Ndhaye

The Auditor General has revealed that the government last year lost shs 1.2 billion which was paid to over 600 ghost workers at the local govt level.

This was exposed by Edward Akol, the acting assistant auditor general-audits while handing over the 2021 audit report to deputy speaker Anita Among at Parliament.

Akol says while reviewing the local government payroll, the auditors noted that the wage and pension bill for local governments in 2020/2021 was up to a tune of 2.2 trillion shillings.

However of this, 7.3 billion that was deducted from staff salaries as pay as You Earn was never remitted to Uganda Revenue Authority.

The report further highlighted that 78 local governments paid a total of 1.12billion to 635 staff who had either retired, been transferred, absconded, or died hence paying for services that were not rendered causing loss of funds to the government.

Although the auditor general limited his audit to 78 local governments, Uganda has 146 districts and this audit did not include the over 200 central government entities.

Written by Noelyn Nassuuna