Ministry of Finance Meets Accounting Officers
To ensure effective execution of the budget for FY 2025/26, the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development (MoFPED) held a meeting with all Accounting Officers of Central Government, Local Governments, Missions Abroad, Regional Referral Hospitals and Public Universities at Speke Resort Munyonyo.
The meeting was chaired by the Head of Public Service and Secretary to Cabinet, Lucy Nakyobe, who urged the Accounting Officers to uphold high levels of accountability and transparency, efficiency, discipline and integrity in addition to being result oriented as they perform their duties.
She said services must be delivered equitably and in a timely manner, adding that Accounting Officers must champion the fight against corruption in their respective entities.
"You should guard against committing Government without adequate resources. Accounting Officers should ensure zero tolerance to creation of domestic arrears. Do not commit beyond cash limits," said the Head of Public Service.
She also urged Accounting Officers to fast-track implementation of projects, streamline procurement and also develop and publish service delivery standards.
The Permanent Secretary and Secretary to the Treasury (PSST), Ramathan Ggoobi said the budget process was identified as one of the avenues of increased corruption, in government through budget games, adding that Human Resource Officers, Procurement Officers, and Accountants fell on the spotlight.
Ggoobi said going forward, the Ministry Budget Analysts have been tasked and told to deepen budget analysis and stamp-out these budget games.
Some of the budget games identified by the Finance Ministry include "Padding Play" where Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) request more than they require.
The PSST said some MDAs are playing the ''crisis card'' game with claims that there will be catastrophic outcomes for the public if their request is not fulfilled.
Ggoobi said the declining integrity of public servants has been worsened by lack of adherence to the Ethical Code of Conduct.
He said the payroll audit by the Office of the Auditor General identified several issues including; unauthorized recruitments, mischarges, payment of staff off the IPPS/HCM systems, unauthorized loan deductions, payment of ghost staff and delays in processing pension and gratuity among others.
He said the full decentralization of the pension and gratuity processing at vote level means Accounting Officers are entirely responsible for managing their respective salaries, pension and gratuity payrolls through Human Capital Management (HCM).
Ggoobi said the challenge of low pay for Chief Administrative Officers, City and Municipal Clerks has been addressed by increasing their monthly salaries from Shs.1.8 million to Shs.12.75 million.
"The Government remains dedicated to advancing the fiscal consolidation plan by implementing strategies that boost revenue collection, streamline public spending, and lower the fiscal deficit," said the PSST.
Some of the issues Accounting Officers especially from Local Governments want addressed include; improved coordination with central government ministries in delivery of services and additional wage consideration for recruitment of more staff among other issues.
