The Auditor General Edward Akol’s 2024-25 annual report which he has already handed over to the Speaker of Parliament Annet Anita Among for further management reveals that Uganda Tourism Board failed to utilize billions of resources they received from the government to run the agency.
The report states that on a review of the asset register which the auditor general inspected revealed that six good state vehicles valued at Shs42 4bn are idle at the agency’s parking yard without being utilized.
He further discovered that the same agency has unused Information Communication and Technology equipment of undetermined value that were not contributing to service delivery and had not been advertised for disposal yet they have a risk of deteriorating in value.
The Auditor General discovered that the Juliana Kaggwa led Tourism Board installed 21 Senso media screens at various sites to support tourism promotion and vending services.
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But a review of their utilisation highlighted shortcomings such as lack of controls to monitor utilisation and inadequate maintenance.
“I noted that Uganda Tourism Board’s procurement plan only reserved procurements worth Shs67.75m which is (1.3%) for registered associations which is contrary to the expected 15% provision of Shs769.89m,” the report reads
He further noted that there were no contract awards made to the associations during the year under review and observed that the entity undertook twelve procurements worth Shs383m out of which only Shs72.5m had been planned for leading to the implementation of unplanned procurements worth Shs311m.
The report discovered that out of the planned procurements worth Shs5.133bn, contracts worth Shs4.32bn were awarded which is representing an implementation rate of 84%.
Outstanding un-implemented procurements were worth Shs0.31bn.
“I noted a low bidder turnout under RFQ method for 13 (42%) procurements worth Shs0.47bn whereby out of the 85 shortlisted bidders, only 32 returned bids, implying a response rate of 37%,” the report further reads
It was discovered that Uganda Tourism Board repeatedly procured common-use items such as crafts, office consumables, design and printing, photography and videography, and branded uniforms through micro procurements worth Shs1bn rather than utilising framework arrangements.
The Auditor General noted that the strategic plan (2020/21-2024/25) was underfunded by 62%, leading to an underachievement with only ten (10) out of the planned thirty-seven interventions outlined in the strategic plan being fully achieved.
He stated that the end-term evaluation also lacked financial performance data across the five strategic objectives and thus the entity could not assess the cost efficiency of strategic interventions or reliably evaluate whether financial inputs aligned with achieved outcomes.
He noted that out of the total warrants of Shs16.13bn, Shs15.41bn making (96%) was spent, out of the 13 assessed outputs worth Shs6.155bn and 1 output worth Shs0.269bn was fully implemented and eleven outputs worth Shs5.803bn were partially implemented while 1 output worth Shs0.081bn could not be assessed due to the absence of performance data.
