The foreign affairs Ministry is on spot for funds amounting to 293 million that was spent in settlement of domestic arrears but not disclosed in their statement of accounts.
Appearing today before the Accounts Committee of Parliament, the officials led by the PS of the ministry Amb. Patrick Mugoya failed to produce supporting documents to several expenditures made by the ministry during the financial year 2016/17 as required under the Financial Management Act.
The Auditor General observes that there was settlement of domestic arrears amounting to UGX. 293,273,704 which had not been disclosed in the statement of outstanding commitments for that year, and other undisclosed payables of more than 290 million which meant that some activities of the ministry remained unimplemented.
The officials also could not explain the whereabouts of 500 million as balance on 10bn shillings received in the financial year 2016/17 to meet commitments to International Organisations including AU and IGAD, after only 9.5bn was spent as reflected in the Auditor General’s report.
The report also shows that in the year under review, 8.9bn was spent in excess of the 32bn operational revenue appropriated for that year, yet officials could not explain the source of 8.9bn.
The proceedings of the committee were adjourned to Friday this week pending presentation of documents including the bank statements of the ministry, the list of international organisations and what Uganda owes each, and all statements of accounts for the year under review.