Two government auditing agencies have unearthed serious irregularities in procurement of relief items by the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) worth Shs10b.
Two forensic audits by the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) and the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets (PPDA), dated September 7, 2021 and April 12, 2022, respectively, put senior OPM officials on the spot for allegedly causing financial losses to the taxpayer.
Copies of the findings seen by this newspaper point to alleged forgeries, collusion between some officials and suppliers, and failure to adhere to key critical procurement regulations.
Our analysis of a cache of official documents of the contentious procurements, which dovetails with findings by government auditors, shows that contracted companies supplied items without a contract specifying quality, leading to delivery of substandard items.
The auditors found some OPM officials culpable of undertaking contracts with values exceeding Shs200m without the Solicitor General’s clearance, contrary to the rules.
The OAG is the supreme audit government institution mandated by the 1995 Constitution to produce reliable and high quality reports while the PPDA on the other hand is a parastatal responsible for regulation and supervision of procurement and disposal of government-owned assets.
Mr Keith Muhakanizi, the OPM’s Permanent Secretary, said he was yet to receive copies of the two forensic audit reports from the PPDA and OAG.
He,…
