Entebbe Municipal Council offices fell unusually quiet as MPs on the Public Accounts Committee arrived to follow up on a string of unresolved Auditor General’s queries.
The MPs came expecting to find the municipal management ready to answer questions raised against the council.
Instead, they found locked offices, empty chairs and a striking absence of senior officials.
The Town Clerk was absent and the Chief Administrative Officer was no where to be seen. The assistant to the CAO went into hiding while the human resource officer left his coat on the chair
Even the receptionist was nowhere to be found.
The MPs walked through the offices, only to find several rooms locked and staff chairs sitting empty.
The committee, led by Nakasongola County MP Ivan Kyeyune on behalf of its chairperson, Betty Nambooze, was following up on questions it had raised with Entebbe Municipal Council about three weeks earlier.
The disappearance of the technical team immediately raised suspicion among the MPs.
Kyeyune said the committee had informed Town Clerk Emmanuel Gakyalo about the planned visit the previous day, making the absence of the officials difficult to explain.
“This is a planned move for all the government staff to hide from the queries that arose from the Auditor General’s report,” Kyeyune said.
The MPs were particularly interested in getting answers about the hiring of equipment reportedly worth more than Shs60 billion, despite the municipality having its own equipment.
They also wanted explanations about the valuation of municipal property earmarked for disposal, including a motorcycle reportedly valued at only Shs20,000.
Questions had also been raised about government-aided schools and other matters contained in the Auditor General’s report.
But as the MPs searched for answers, the municipal offices remained largely deserted. Interestingly, some of the officials had reportedly signed the staff attendance book before they disappeared to an unknown place.
This left the MPs questioning why officials had recorded their presence at work but could not be found when Parliament arrived to conduct its oversight work.
For residents who had come to the offices seeking services, the situation was even more frustrating.
Mary Kamugisha, a resident of Kinyolo in Entebbe, said she had spent more than an hour waiting for assistance.
“I have been here for more than one hour waiting for some service, but there is nobody to attend to me,” she said.
Even the security guard at the newly occupied municipal building appeared surprised by the disappearance of the council staff.
He told the committee that he did not know where the officials had gone.
“In fact, I am not answerable to this municipal council. I am only doing my work for the proprietor of the building,” he said.
For several hours, the MPs waited for the technical officials to return and explain themselves.
But the committee’s patience was eventually wore thin.
It was only when the MPs were preparing to leave for Kampala that the political head of the municipality, Mayor Fabrice Lurinda, arrived and attempted to explain the situation.
Town Clerk Gakyalo later said there had been a communication problem between Parliament and the municipal management.
He said the officials had left the offices to attend an emergency management meeting. The committee told the municipal council that the unresolved issues would have to be answered before Parliament.
The officials will therefore have to return to Parliament to explain the audit queries and also account for their absence when MPs came looking for them.
