Public service disowns new posh car purchases
ParliamentThe Public Service Ministry yesterday became the second to distance itself from the controversial purchase of new vehicles for ministers and army generals, saying they were not consulted before the cars were purchased.
Appearing before the Parliamentary Committee on Public Service and Local Government, the State Minister for Public Service, Ms Sezi Mbaguta, said her ministry was not even informed of the plan to buy the cars.
“We are not aware that ministers acquired new vehicles. For us, we are in the process of carrying out a new census for all government vehicles to enable a cut on the maintenance costs,” Ms Mbaguta said. “Otherwise, if I knew about these new cars, I would have acquired a new car because I have no vehicle and I need one.”
Finance ministry officials had earlier said they did not authorise the purchase of the new vehicles, valued at Shs200m each.
Ms Mbaguta said enforcing standing orders on the acquisition of new vehicles is a responsibility of the individual accounting officers. She argued that vehicles were needed to perform government work but warned permanent secretaries against “misuse of government vehicles”.
Government officials were reported to be increasingly using government vehicles to do private work.
The minister was responding to MPs’ concerns about a revelation in the Daily Monitor that more than 20 cabinet ministers and senior government officials have acquired new posh vehicles which have cost the Ugandan taxpayer billions of shillings.
The committee, chaired by Anthony Yiga (NRM, Kalungu West), heard that the new vehicle purchases have not only flouted public service standing orders, but also procurement regulations.
“We are spending too much on the vehicles and we cannot allow ministers to get new vehicles at the expense of taxpayers. We are spending Shs100b [annually] on vehicle maintenance alone and this money could work on 10,000 kilometres of murram roads in each financial year,” Mr Yiga said. “Whoever acquired a new vehicle should prepare to explain otherwise, as a committee we are concerned that public money is wasted with impunity.”
The Permanent Secretary in the Public Service Ministry, Mr Jimmy Lwamafa, said they are considering a new vehicle census to enable the ministry rationalise the maintenance and management of government vehicles in the country.
Lira Woman MP Rebecca Otengo (Indep) suggested that Parliament slaps a ban on the acquisition of new vehicles until the ministry of public service is through with the census.
Meanwhile, Ms Mbaguta announced a 5 per cent pay raise for civil servants in the country, as part of the wider efforts to shield them from the inflationary pressures.
The new increase of public servants’ salaries will start this financial year, increasing the wage bill by Shs54 billion. Last financial year, the government spent about Shs1.1 trillion on salaries.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
