Kisaka & Company re-appointed to audit the Auditor General’s office

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Parliament has approved the re-appointment of M/s Kisaka & Company, a Kampala-based Certified Accounting firm, to scrutinize accounts of the Office of the Auditor General (OAG).

The approval in the Wednesday afternoon plenary session gives the firm a mandate to review the Office of Auditor General’s accounts from 2017 and report back to parliament. The new mandate covers three financial years covering the period 2017 to 2020.

The National Audit Act, 2008, provides for the auditing of the accounts of the Office of the Auditor General by an auditor appointed by Parliament. Only firms that have not worked with OAG for the past three years are eligible to bid for the position of an independent auditor.

The firm last audited the Auditor General’s office for the period starting financial year 2005/2006 to 2017 at a cost of 965 million Shillings. The motion for the approval of the firm was tabled by Parliamentary Commissioner Robinah Nabbanja.

Before approving the motion, Budadiri West MP Nathan Nandala Mafabi demanded the Parliamentary Commission to first avail reports of the previous audits conducted on the Office of the Auditor-General. Nandala also observed a need for a value for money audit for the Office of the Auditor-General.

Deputy Speaker Jacob Oulanyah said that there seems to be a problem with the law since it only requires the Auditor General to present all audit reports to Parliament. He said that this means that all audits on public funds including that on the OAG would still be presented by the Auditor General.

He also guided that the appointed audit firm should not be delegated by the Auditor General to carry out any work on behalf of the OAG office.

Henry Musasizi, the Finance Committee Chairperson told Parliament that the previous audits carried out on the Office of the Auditor General have been considered by his committee and that their report is yet to be tabled before parliament.

Opposition Chief Whip Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda asked the Parliament Commission to avail details of the Contract with Kisaka & Company. He cited a need for members to find out the instructions given to the independent auditors.

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