The Chief Coordinator, Operation Wealth Creation (OWC), Gen. Salim Saleh and his Deputy, Lt. Gen. Charles Angina have been summoned to Parliament on March 13,2018 to address queries of registration and misuse of assets of the National Agricultural Advisory Services, (NAADS).
The Auditor General’s Report for the financial year 2014/2015 revealed that some fixed assets in the district are not registered.
The Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE), while meeting NAADS officials today, 07 March 2018 learnt that some assets including vehicles were illegally transferred to Operation Wealth Creation (OWC) following the restructuring of NAADS in 2013.
The Executive Director NAADs, Sammuel Mugasi told the Committee that the vehicles and other assets in the districts are still legally under NAADS but are being used by OWC.
“We no longer have staff in the Local Government to use these assets like vehicles, computers and furniture, but the extension workers under OWC are using them,” said Mugasi.
The Committee Chairperson, Hon. Abdul Katuntu (FDC, Bugweri) said that the transfer of the vehicles was done illegally leaving room for mismanagement.
“The NAADS Act has not been amended following the restructuring and yet you are implementing the reforms against the law,” said Katuntu.
The Committee Vice Chairperson, Hon. Anita Among (Ind., Bukedea Woman) said that the OWC officers are taking advantage of absence of guidelines to misuse the vehicles.
“The OWC officers are now using the vehicles for political activities,” said Among.
Hon. David Abala (NRM, Ngora) said that the NAADS vehicles designated for Ngora district spend nights in Soroti.
“This means government resources are being misused and risk getting stolen because in Soroti, 12 cars have been stolen in the past five months,” said Abala.
The Committee also gave NAADS two weeks to provide a list of districts that failed to account for over Shs2 billion after they received inputs and services as raised in the Auditor General’s Report for financial year 2014/2015.