Auditor General John Muwanga has queried the whereabouts of land titles worth Shs91.8b which cannot be accounted for by the Uganda Railway Corporation (URC).
In a report tabled on the floor of Parliament yesterday, the Auditor General stated that as a result of the lack of land titles, individuals and institutions have encroached on it and unlawfully put up developments on URC Land
The report, however, does not indicate how many titles are affected and where the land, which has already been compensated for, is located.
The latest report is for Financial Year 2019/2020.
The Auditor General’s report also revealed that the Corporation is choking on debts amounting to Shs47b some of which are accruing from unsupported loans.
The report says URC has unsupported loans worth Shs16.5b from foreign governments and because of non-payment, they have attracted interests worth Shs9.5b. There were no supporting documents, the report indicates.
Another Shs9.7b is owed to Sundry Creditors, who give goods or services to the business in credit or do not receive the payment immediately from the business and are liable to receive the payment from the business in future, while Shs11.2b owed to other suppliers that have not been paid.
Unexplained expenditures
URC officials are also on the spot for making excessive expenditures worth Shs1.6b, which was not authorised by the board of directors.
Out of this, Shs708m was excess on salaries and wages hence raising the item budget from Shs3.5b to Shs4.4b in the year under review, an action the Auditor General has attributed to unauthorised recruitment of staff and keeping on payroll others due for retirement.
The report also showed that URC does not have all the locomotives recorded in the inventory book. Only 11 out of 48 locomotive engines were found in the asset register.
“I noted that there were no fuel registers for the locomotives; and neither did the corporation maintain logbooks for each vehicle, and locomotive” Mr Muwanga noted.
Speaker Rebecca Kadaga yesterday forwarded the Auditor General’s report to the Committee on Finance, Planning and Economic Development.
Some of the accounting officers for ministries, departments and agencies will be expected to appear before relevant sectoral committees to face the MPs concerning this report.