KAMPALA – Auditor General, John Muwanga has revealed that the Uganda Aids Commission received but hid funds to a tune of Shs3.3Bn from Government as required by the Public Finance Management Act 2015.
The details are contained in the December 2019 audit report that highlighted that the Commission received off-budget financing to a tune of Shs3,372,895,662 which was not included in its budget estimate/appropriation.
The audit report noted that out of the Shs6,867,449,905, allocated to the Commission in 2018/2019, Shs6,813,469,870 was spent by the entity resulting in unspent balance of Shs53,980,035.
Uganda Aids Commission is said to have irregularly diverted Shs15,820,901 and spent on other activities without seeking necessary approvals.
With the HIV/AIDs scourge in Uganda, the Uganda Aids Commission is said to have returned unspent donor funds worth Shs47,421,315 to the respective donors due to failure to utilise the funds.
At close of 2019, the Commission’s domestic arrears had hit Shs76,162,402 which remained unsettled at the close of the financial year. The Commission is said to be embroiled in a dispute over property ownership and has therefore not been able to collect revenue from the properties on the land since October 2016.
Meanwhile, the same audit report also revealed that the National Medical Stores (NMS) arrears have hit Shs110. 726Bn according to a review of the IFMS financial reports but no reconciliation was provided to harmonize the two figures.
The report also noted that NMS payables increased from Shs77.905Bn for the financial year 2017/18 to Shs121.475b for the financial year 2018/19 representing an increase of Shs43.569b.
The entity also reported a balance of receivables amounting to Shs38.223b in the statement of financial position of which four (4) debtors valued at Shs17.325b were all more than three years old.
