MPs query URA’s shs94.9bn over expenditure

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Members of Parliament on the Committee of Commissions, Statutory, Authorities and State Enterprise-Cosase have called on the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning Matia Kasaija to sanction the Uganda Revenue Authority Commissioner General John Musinguzi Rujoki for spending taxpayers’ money over and above what Parliament had approved for them.

In their report from the Auditor General’s Report of the 2022/ 2023 financial year, the MPs said that it’s illegal to spend taxpayers’ money without authorization from parliament.

In the financial year 2022/2023, parliament approved 554.510 billion shillings for URA but according to the Auditor General’s Report, they spent 649.41 billion shillings representing a difference of 94.9 billion Shillings. Most of this over-expenditure was spent on procuring office equipment, transport and furniture.

The report also notes that even the land and buildings procured by URA with funding from Trade Mark East Africa were not originally part of the approved budget, which also offends several sections in the Public Finance Management Act. “The Committee recommends that since URA’s over-expenditure was irregular and the Accounting Officer’s explanation couldn’t absolve the entity, the PSST   would have been the right person to sanction the Accounting Officer.

However, him being a board member of URA, the Committee finds it inappropriate for the PSST to prevail over this matter and therefore, the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development should take up the matter,” the report reads in part.

The MPs also took issue with the rate at which the URA wage bill was growing about the growth of the tax collections.

URA’s wage bill grew by 35% in the financial year 2022/2023. The report notes that URA’s 3,251 workers cost the taxpayers 282.27 billion Shillings. “The Committee recommends that the Authority targets a sustainable wage bill growth to further enhance tax administration efficiency gains,” the report notes. Cosase is chaired by Busiro East Member of Parliament Medard Lubega Sseggona.

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