Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Minister of State for Economic monitoring Peter Ogwang has said they will carry out an audit on all Government loans to assess their performance and progress.
According to Ogwang, the Audit will be conducted to assess the number of loans in the country, the programs for which they are meant to support, at what stage they are at so that possible recommendations can be made.
Ogwang’s core role as Minister in charge of Economic Monitoring is to ensure Governments’ projects and policies are effectively implemented.
Ogwang says that several Government projects were lying idle despite funds being readily available. Some of these projects include road works, irrigation schemes and dams, water and sewerage facilities and agricultural projects among others.
In a press conference held on Friday at the Government media centre, Ogwang said that the field trip will then see that recommendations are made in areas that are challenges arising from implementers or contractors, Governments failures to remit counterpart funding, among others.
He says he moved in Ibanda, in Kasese, and Rubirizi among others, and he found several projects had stalled. He says some of those projects started to move after his intervention.
According to Ogwang, a project under the Ministry of Water and Environment was launched by the President in 2017, unfortunately to date nothing has happened. He says these are the projects he wants to monitor.
Ogwang says that with his background in Information and Communications Technology, he intends to create a dashboard with an updated list of projects, projects supported by loans, and their status.
He says this also means citizens should come into play to report some of these delayed projects.
Ogwang says since his role as a Minister in charge of Economic Monitoring, he will start by auditing these projects to ascertain their progress.
Ogwang says the focus of the monitoring is intended to ensure that money is used appropriately and that people who misuse the funds are held responsible. Uganda’s projected debt is projected to rise to 51.9 percent of GDP in FY2021/22.
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