Luttamaguzi Ssemakula, the Nakaseke South Member of Parliament, has asked the district officials to petition Parliament to investigate the matter, saying some of bureaucratic tendencies are intended to benefit technocrats in ministries.
Leaders in
Greater Luweero are protesting the delayed approval of funds for service
delivery under the Integrated Financial Management system.
Last year, Government
ordered Local governments to migrate from the Integrated Financial Management
System-IFMS Tier 2 to IFMS Tier 1 to improve efficiency in financial
management.
Government
listed the benefits of the IFMS Tier 1 system as faster operations,
increased level of transparency, and harmonized chart of accounts, timely,
relevant and accurate information.
Others were effective budgetary and
commitment control, reduction in paper work, movement and tracking of documents
for approval among others.
But Ronald
Ndawula, the Luweero District LC 5 Chairperson, says there are more bureaucratic
tendencies in approving funds under IFMS compared to the traditional paperwork.
Ndawula
explains that budgets are uploaded on system and approval must be sought from the
Accountant General before any expenditure is made, which can take months.
He reveals that in October last year, Luweero district received a
supplementary budget of Shillings 740 million for Parish Community
Associations, Transport Revolving Fund and Luwero-Rwenzori Development
programme but it took three months to get approval from the Finance
Ministry to spend it.
Ndawula says they are always prepared to receive money but
are demoralized by the delayed approval to release it within time frame.
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Luganda Byte
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Ramathan Kato, the Nakaseke District Focal
Person For Luwero-Rwenzori Development programme, says the district council
approved a supplementary budget of Shillings 356 million for Parish Community
Associations on November 08, 2018 but the money was disbursed to the
beneficiaries in February, 2019 because of delayed clearance from the Accountant
General.
Kato says for any payments to be made under IFMS to any group
or person, they must secure validated supplier numbers from the Finance,
Planning and Economic Development Ministry, which further delay the process.
Sam Kigula, the LC 5 Chairman Nakasongola district, says there
was no adequate training of staff at the district to manage the IFMS that has
worsened bureaucracy.
Kigula says
that even when they sought support from the Finance Ministry, the delegated
officials were equally ill trained on the migration.
Kigula warns that unless the IFMS is simplified, districts
may end up not spending funds.
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The Local Leaders want Parliament to investigate the
migration to IFMS Tier 1 and stop it if it’s not effective.
Luttamaguzi Ssemakula, the Nakaseke South Member of
Parliament, has asked the district officials to petition Parliament to
investigate the matter, saying some of bureaucratic tendencies are intended to
benefit technocrats in ministries.
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Keith Muhakanizi, the Finance Ministry Permanent Secretary
has not yet commented as he could neither pick nor return calls from our
reporter.
However, in
earlier interview with URN, Muhakanizi said the IFMS Tier 1 is an effective tool
to track expenditures and asked accounting officers to embrace technology
because the World is changing.
Muhakanizi accused accounting officers in Luweero of lack of
seriousness and failure to seek support from the Ministry to expedite the
payment process.
Last year, at
least 367 civil servants in Luweero district delayed to get salaries as the
district struggled to adjust to the IFMS Tier 1.
According to the Finance Ministry website, some of the
challenges faced by IFMS documented by users were difficulty in adjusting to
the highly structured requirements of the IFMS especially when dealing with
unbudgeted contingencies, delays in resolving application bugs, occasional
System unavailability and sabotage from beneficiaries of the old system among
others.
