Moyo District Local Administration is facing the spotlight over allegations of doling out pensions and gratuity funds to ghost workers in the year 2021/2022 out of the total vote of shs.1.4bn.
Article 254 of the Constitution provides that, “a public officer shall, on retirement receive such pension as is commensurate with his or her rank, salary, and length of service.”
An investigation conducted by the East African Centre for Investigative Reporting Ltd, (EACIR) reveals what appears to be a pattern of fictitious accountability, which includes names of those who are deceased and others who are still in active local government service.
For instance, Remjo Karoo Hudson who is listed as one of the recipients of gratuity, is dead. An investigation by EACIR, which was corroborated by sources in Moyo indicates that he died on December 23rd 2020 at Moyo General Hospital. Sources also reveal that Peter Aligo who served as a parish chief died of suicide, a few years ago, and yet he appeared on the list of those who received gratuity.
Nixon Owole who is the former headteacher, of Metu SS, appears on the list yet he is currently serving as the RDC Tororo district.
Fred Drandru Kinya who served as an Assistant Education Officer, appears twice on the list.
In what appears to be an attempt to inflate the list, three persons who purportedly received gratuity including Lazarus Amaza, Victor Gum, and Peter Aligo are all listed as number 41. It is not clear yet whether the family of the late John Abima Duku received his gratuity and pension and other families, which are listed as the estate of the deceased.
According to the Moyo State of the district address for the financial year 2021/2022, presented by Williams Anyama on August 30th2022, it presents details of 103 recipients of pensions and gratuity for the last three years. However, the list does not contain any evidence indicating how much 103 retired local government workers including agricultural officers, headteachers, nurses, and parish chiefs, each received.
The district address does not specifically reveal how much out of the shs1.4bn budget was paid to the pensioners. Sources in the office of the Chief Administrative Officer claim that shs869million is what was exactly paid. It is not revealed whether the unspent shs531 million was returned to the Consolidated Fund.
The allegations have drawn the attention of sleuths in the region investigating some of the ‘ghost recipients’ to establish whether the district local government officials deliberately falsified these accounts.
“I had earlier written a letter to the RDC and Police and the matter is under investigation at the office of the Inspectorate of Government (IGG) and the regional Criminal Department office in Moyo. That is the role of investigation, I have brought the matter in the open. I brought it in the open and transparently, the burden is on the administration [Local Government] and in this particular case,” the LC 5 chairperson, Williams Anyama to EACIR.
Anyama revealed that officials at the Chief Administrators’ Office (CAO) claimed that the payments could be attributed to clerical errors. “It was copy and paste practice in the process of compiling the report. It is the investigation to bring out everything.”
The Chief Administrative Officer, of Moyodistrict, Jesca Ongiertho, claimed that it was her predecessor who was in charge during the financial year of 2021 and 2022. She promised to respond with more details the next day but did not pick up when she was called on her cellphone.
Earlier in April, the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) announced that it had sanctioned a special audit on the pension and gratuity management processes, which will include a headcount of pensioners across the country.
The audit, which will cover the pension and gratuity payroll from 2019/2020 to December 2023, will specifically probe whether bon afide pensioners are on the payroll and being paid the correct rates.
In another incident, Maiku Mawadri Kizito whose estate appears on the list of recipients and is purportedly deceased, has sued the Moyo District Local Government and specifically the LC 5 chairperson, Williams Anyama.
According to the plaint filed on 13 May 2024 in the Chief Magistrates Court of Moyo, Mawadri who is the plaintiff is claiming against the defendants ‘severally and jointly for general damages and defamation arising from the statement realised or published on Moyo District Local Government state of the district address for the financial year 2021/2022.”
According to the facts of the case, ‘on the 30thday of August 2022, the first defendant through the second defendant who is the district chairperson of Moyo district published information in the Moyo district local government state of address for the financial year 2021/2022 declaring the plaintiff to be dead and that his estates have processed his pension and gratuity in the last three financial years.’
Mawadri says this falsehood came to his attention on 6th February 2024 when he was approached by a journalist of NTV Uganda by the name of Scovin Cheta who interviewed him on the allegations that he was pronounced dead by the report from the state of district address for the financial year 2021/2022.
“The plaintiff in shock took interest and managed to get a copy of the state of address for the financial year 2021/2022 of Moyodistrict local government by Anyama Williams and found his name listed among those who are dead and their estates have already received benefits for the past three years.”
On March 15th March 2024, the district Chairperson Moyo, wrote letters to the Resident District Commissioner and the Inspectorate of Government, North West Nile Regional Office Moyo to conduct a special investigation on the purported payments of retirement benefits to Mawadri. A copy of this letter has been seen by EACIR.
On 2nd April 2024, the plaintiff received a police detective for the North West Nile region, Ronald Owio, who went to Mawadri’s office at the district headquarters in Adjumanito investigate why he received pension and gratuity benefits yet still alive.
But Mawadri says the publication is a falsehood, which has caused him mental anguish and panic to his family and friends after he was declared dead. “He has been shunned by the public, looked at as a fraudster by his current employer, which has occasioned him grave inconvenience and gravely tainted and damaged his reputation as he is looked at as a thief.”
Through his lawyers, Okecha Baranyanga, the plaintiff seeks exemplary and punitive damages, a permanent injunction restraining the defendants from further publishing false, malicious, and defamatory statements against the plaintiff.
The LC 5 chairperson, Anyama said, “We have filed a response to the submission to the plaint and the district has equally filed a defence and it is in court and we shall see what comes out of court.”
A recent audit, which was earlier this year sanctioned by the Auditor General revealed that the government has been paying over shs53bn annually to ghost employees.
The office of the auditor general undertook a special audit of the salary payroll across all government employees in 367 entities comprising 162 departments, 179 local governments, and 29 other government organisations in February 2023.
The audit recommended that 10,192 ghost employees be immediately removed from the government payroll after they were confirmed dead, absconded, or retired by the time of validation.
“I further observed that a total of Shs 53 billion was being paid to this category of staff and it is therefore recoverable,” assistant auditor General Edward Akol said in a statement to the Speaker of Parliament, Anita Among.
This story was done with support from Action Aid International Uganda
