MPs have criticised the Auditor General, Edward Akol, accusing his office of issuing weak recommendations that fail to hold public officials accountable for misuse of public funds.
The criticism was raised during a joint engagement between officials from the Office of the Auditor General and members of the Public Accounts Committee (Central Government), Public Accounts Committee (Local Government), and the Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE).
The meeting was held at Hotel Africana.
The MPs said the annual audit report for the financial year ending 2025 contained recommendations that were too soft on institutions where serious audit queries had been raised.
“We are getting concerned that the Auditor General’s recommendations in the annual audit report are not biting enough for entities where audit queries were found. This has contributed to poor service delivery and the continued loss of billions of taxpayers’ money,” the legislators said.
The meeting was chaired by MPs including Goretti Namugga, who heads the Public Accounts Committee for Central Government, Gilbert Oulanyah of the Local Government committee, and Timothy Batuwa of COSASE.
Betty Ethel Naluyima, the Wakiso Woman MO, called for stronger coordination between Parliament’s oversight committees and district public accounts committees, which she said were largely inactive.
Naluyima said the weak oversight had allowed recurring problems to persist in key government programmes such as education, health care, road construction, and the Parish Development Model.
Okin Ojara from Chua West questioned the relationship between the audit queries and the opinions issued in the report. He said only 17 entities received qualified opinions compared to more than 600 unqualified opinions, a situation he argued did not reflect the scale of problems affecting public institutions.
Susan Amero, the Woman MP for Amuria, also raised concerns about the professional conduct of some auditors, saying safeguards were needed to prevent them from being compromised by the entities they audit.
However, some MPs welcomed efforts by the Auditor General’s office to engage academic institutions across the country to promote accountability and strengthen public financial management.
Nsamba Oshabe, the MP for Kassanda North, said his experience at the Pan-African Parliament showed that in some countries, audit recommendations directly influence the budgets of affected entities.
Other MPs, including Elijah Okupa from Kasilo, warned that partial implementation of public projects was costing the government billions of shillings.
Okupa said the situation required stronger scrutiny by Parliament to ensure that recommendations from the Auditor General’s office are fully implemented.
Speaking on behalf of the Speaker Anita Among, Gilbert Olanya from Kilak South, thanked the Auditor General for consistently submitting the annual audit report to Parliament within the legally required timeframe.
He acknowledged that the Office of the Auditor General faces logistical challenges, including limited vehicles, staff shortages, and inadequate equipment such as laptops.
In response, Akol said his office was committed to working closely with Parliament and other government institutions to ensure that audit recommendations are implemented.
He added that the Office of the Auditor General would continue working through treasury memoranda and other mechanisms to strengthen accountability and improve the overall effectiveness of government operations.
