Auditor General Muwanga to receive Shs500m package, salary for life

This year, Uganda will see the longest serving Auditor General, John Muwanga retire from service after nearly 20 years of producing reports about the expenditures of the taxpayer’s money.

His role has always climaxed by reports to Parliament every January to allow the lawmakers to carry out oversight by scrutinizing audit queries of every previous financial year. These Audit reports carry the Auditor General’s opinions and queries on the books of accounts of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) for the previous financial year.

Now, Muwanga is due for retirement and because of his distinguished service, he will receive a pay cheque of Shs500 million as a personal to holder Service Award.

The Service Award was determined by Parliament on Tuesday after Budadiri West MP; Nathan Nandala Mafabi proposed that the country appreciates the tremendous work Muwanga has done for the country. He had proposed a one-off payment of Shs1 billion but it was rejected by the majority of the House until a compromise was reached on Shs500 million following a formula presented by Erute South MP, Jonathan Odur.

Lawmakers voted in favour of Muwanga’s Service Award based on the proposed formula of taking 2.6 percent of the annual salary of the retiring Auditor General, multiplied by five and the years of service.

This followed a motion moved by Henry Musasizi, State Minister of Finance (General Duties) for the House to determine the retired benefits for the Auditors General in fulfillment of the provisions of the National Audit Act, 2008. He said that Section 5 (2) of the Act gives Parliament power to determine the post-retirement benefits of the Auditor General but this had never been formalised because the only Auditor General since the enactment of the law had not yet retired.

“It is no secret that by the time of enactment of the National Audit Act, this country had lost a good professional in the person of the current Auditor General who had left in 2005 for the United States because he did not agree with the terms of service of the office. After failing to get a replacement, he was convinced to return to the office after enactment of the National Audit Act and restructuring of the office. However, in so doing it reserved the right and authority, in section 5 (2), to determine the remuneration and other conditions of service of the Auditor General, including post-retirement benefits. Fourteen years down the road, Parliament has not yet executed this statutory mandate,” explained Musasizi while presenting the motion.

The Minister who moved the motion on behalf of Parliament and was seconded by Amos Kankunda, Chairperson Committee on Finance, said that putting in place a retirement package for the Auditor General will help the country to; attract and retain talent; ensure motivation and job satisfaction; reduce labour turnover; and, ensure public confidence among others.

Lawmakers after debating the Service Award specifically for Muwanga, went ahead to approve the retirement benefits for any Auditor General irrespective of the period he or she shall have spent in office.

A retiring Auditor General shall continue to earn until death a monthly retirement benefit equivalent to the salary payable to sitting Auditor General; get a furnished house or a one-off payment of Shs400 million; an annual medical allowance equivalent to the package payable to a sitting Auditor General; a Chauffeur driven car or a one-off payment of Shs400 million; security provided by the State; fuel and vehicle repairs allowance of Shs2 million per month; and official burial by the State upon death.

Section 4 (1) of the National Audit Act, 2008 provides for the appointment of the Auditor General by the President with approval of Parliament in accordance with Article 163 (1) of the Constitution. An independent officer of Parliament, the Auditor General’s functions include; auditing and reporting on the public accounts of Uganda and off all public offices; conduct financial, value for money audits and other audits; audit classified expenditure; audit all Government investments; carry out procurement audits; and, audits of treasury memoranda.