Abaana Uganda...owangee..Mbagi ba Gudde mu
bintu!!!!!!kolapsonii..one eatheth were one worketh..eat while the white man
is still generous and you have a corrupt regime of murders and killers leading
you... ..you never know.... the water hole may dry in the days to come if
there is a responsible Gavumenti ..and the whiteman becames wise!!!
MK
Report Exposes Aids Fund Recipients
The
Monitor (Kampala)
September 5, 2005
Posted to the web September 4, 2005
Simon Kasyate
Kampala
The PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) audit into alleged
mismanagement of the Global Fund project caught 29 entities without a clean
bill of health.
The audit revealed that the companies and NGOs, which
received cash under the suspended project, either had questionable credentials
or failed to account for the money.
The funds, accessed through the Ministry of Finance, were
disbursed through the Project Management Unit (PMU) in the Ministry of Health
to Sub-recipients (SRs).
The Global Fund had earmarked $201m (about Shs 280
billion) for Uganda for two years.
Only $45 million (Shs 81 billion) of this had been
disbursed by the time the Global Fund announced it was withholding all five
grants to Uganda.
The audit report by the Global Fund's agent,
PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) - an international audit firm indicates that many
SRs did not use the money rightly.
The same report also indicates that the majority of the
SRs were approved to receive this money without meeting the stipulated
criteria. Many SRs did not have the mandatory one-year experience. Some were
reportedly hurriedly formed for the sole purpose of accessing the funds, yet
others were not legally registered and in extreme cases, others did not have
physical addresses.
The report reveals in detail how some individuals and
organisations failed to account for the funds and how others inflated costs to
earn extra money. The report revealed irregularities in the procurement,
governance and management of the grants right PMU down to the SRs.
First to be reviewed was Lijac Promotional Services. This
turned out to be an unregistered organisation. The only documentation to
reflect legal status was that the organisation had reserved a name at the time
of applying for funding. It has no physical address but was awarded funds for
the purpose of running a Television education quiz and discussion programme
worth Shs41,920,000.
"The proposal submitted does not describe the type of
business the organisation is in, for how long it has been in operation nor
does it highlight the organisation's experience in the field it was submitting
an application for. We requested for and were not provided with the tapes of
the recordings that had taken place with the funding from the GF.
The few tapes that were provided to us were old tapes that
we were not allowed to review. Some of them were clearly marked Uganda
Television and contained recordings of speeches by ministers," the report
says.
The report says the organisation could not account for
Shs10,593,000. About Shs12,461,000 passed off as inflated prices of items like
video tapes.
Apac district
Apac District was another SR that, like other public
sector entities, did not prepare proposals but just submitted work plans and
budgets. This was the basis of receiving funds to the tune of Shs16,945,000.
The review indicated that of this Shs5,910,000 representing 34% of budget is
questionable expenditure. This arises from lack of documentary backing for
some expenditure.
Biggest recipient
The Aids Control Programme (ACP) was perhaps the biggest
beneficiary of the fund even after their work plan budget of Shs13 billion was
revised down to Shs5 billion.
The review accuses the PMU of among others things, making
payments directly to individuals for ACP activities either in cash or by
cheques.
"Most of the payments effected were on average about Shs20
million," the report, a copy of which Daily Monitor has seen reads in part,
"ACP staff have not provided accountability for funds received after
activities have been undertaken. This situation is aggravated by the fact that
the PMU does not maintain a log of who has taken an advance and who has
accounted for one."
"An example is Dr Musinguzi who received Shs68 million
early June and has not implemented activities to date. He has however remained
with the funds under his custodianship," said the report.
The report also notes that allowances were not paid out in
accordance with the Government of Uganda standing instructions. The report
says per diems were paid at higher than the laid down rates. "Per diems were
paid to ACP staff at workshops when they were not spending a night away from
their duty stations; Per diems were paid to participants who were accommodated
at the workshop and all meals paid; Allowances that are not defined by the GoU
instructions were paid to ACP staff forexample professional fees, facilitation
among others and an honorarium was paid to staff but at rates that are not in
line with the GoU instructions bringing questioned allowances to
Shs85,427,104."
About Shs1.4 billion remains questionable expenditure by
the ACP.
The National Council of Sports had two other SRs
registered under it for funding which include; City Lads Football Club and
Sports for Support. Together, these three have queried expenditures to the
tune of 14,660,000. National Council of Sports, City Lads Football Club and
Sports for Support spent Shs7,181,000, Shs4,546,000 and Shs2,933,000
respectively.
The Uganda Private Medical Practitioners' Association got
Shs49 million but Shs10,685,100 was captured as questionable expenditure by
the PWC review. The report says allowances were paid out that lacked third
party supporting documents and outright failure to account by officials.
Datamine
Datamine Technical Business School is a limited company
that is offering computer services. It also got money from the Global Fund.
Under the management of Mr Mathias Mpuuga assisted by Ms Jackie Namwanje, they
cannot account for Shs32,491,000.
The review report questions how little known Uganda Youth
Development Link (UYDEL) with Rogers Kasirye as coordinator spent
Shs20,559,000. The review indicates outright forgeries and lies in the
accountability of funds.
UYDEL could neither provide the tapes nor the photographs
it allegedly took at one of the sensitisation seminars. "The photos provided
to us were taken in 1998," the review states.
Health Consult
Health Consult applied for funding to develop models of
HIV counselling and testing in clinics and hospitals in district settings that
would either directly provide or refer those testing positive to sources of
basic preventive and palliative care. This SR does not have a physical
address.
The project they proposed to be undertaken in Mpigi
district i.e. specifically in Gombe Hospital. "It cannot account for
Shs18,041,000 rising from per diems, other allowances and car hire services;
receipts of which were questioned," the report says.
"The phone number on the receipt for Instant Services Car
Hire does not belong to the company. The number belongs to a student at a
university and he informed us that he does not have any relationship with any
car hire company," the report says.
Entebbe United Development Organisation (EUDO), a
community-based organisation in Entebbe Municipality, had a questioned
expenditure bill of Shs18,510,600 - 62 per cent of the total funds it
received.
Uganda Youth Anti-Aids Association (UYAA) is a lead agency
with 34 sub recipients that came on board after responding to a call for
proposals by the PMU. About Shs36,448,110 of the money it received cannot be
accounted for satisfactorily.
Specialist Centre
Medical Specialist Centre (MSC) is an established profit
oriented clinical practice that provides health care service to a large and
varied number of patients within and outside Kampala. MSC owned by a private
practitioner who is an orthopaedic surgeon does not have a certificate of
incorporation other than a certificate/operational license for health
units.
It got Shs50,200,000. However by the end of July 2005,
Shs27,730,090 (55% of the disbursed funds) had been utilised in accordance
with the approved budget. The rest stands as questionable expenditure.
Buso Foundation, another SRs was granted Shs133,180,803
but to date Shs 94,872,655 remains questionable expenditure. Uganda Women's
Effort to Save Orphans (Uweso) - Entebbe branch had probably the lowest
questionable expenditure. It got Shs20 million and Shs591,000 remains
questionable expenditure.
Campus Alliance to Wipe out Aids (CAWA), is a
non-governmental organisation registered with KCC. It largely sensitises
students in universities and colleges about abstinence and the dangers of
indulging in pre-marital sex. It got Shs43,400,000 but managed to account for
only Shs35,345,500. CAWA is also an evangelical organisation.
Making Positive Living Attractive to the Youth Ma-(PLAY)
is a youth led initiative, which started in 1996 by a group of young people
and their parents. It addresses health challenges that youths face regarding
sexual and reproductive health including STDs HIV/Aids, early pregnancies,
unsafe abortions and other health risks like drugs and alcohol. This group got
Shs33,610,700 and cannot account for Shs2,021,650.
Murumba Uganda Inc. a registered humanitarian child
focused organization based in Mbale that supports HIV/AIDS orphans in form of
sponsorships, helps vulnerable orphans of HIV/AIDS scourge. The organization
whose business specialism is "poverty alleviation" was granted Shs38,824,900.
Shs12,306,750 of this remains questioned expenditure.
The total funds disbursed to Mildmay was Shs236,916,123 on
22 October 2004 for health care training and Shs 942,415,439 on March 1, 2005
for a project to improve the quality of orphans affected by HIV/Aids. However
the review indicates that accountability was only for the first disbursement,
leaving the second disbursement expenditure questionable.
Prime Info Group, according to their proposal is a
consortium of seven companies and organisations, which were 'purposely'
created to implement GF Programme in the informal sector groups. This has not
accounted for Shs 30 million.
UNFFE
Uganda National Farmers Federation (UNFFE) is one of the
lead agencies in the private sector that was selected to implement the GF
project among farming communities. UNFFE have received the following
disbursements: Got Shs164,278,724 and Shs241,952,920 in respect of the first
grant agreement and Shs200,000,000 as an additional grant. An additional
agreement was entered into for the third disbursement. However an estimated
Shs132,083,526 cannot be accounted for.
See list
here