The Chief Administrative Officer of Luweero has directed five headteachers to refund over 24 million Shillings allocated under the Universal Primary Education (UPE) program. The directive follows the failure of these headteachers to provide proper accountability for the funds disbursed under the third and fourth quarters of the 2022/23 financial year.
The funds were intended for purchasing scholastic materials, facilitating co-curricular activities, and covering administrative costs, among other purposes. The affected headteachers are from Kyampisi Primary School (unaccounted for 6.02 million Shillings), Kaswa Primary School (5.08 million Shillings), Kibanyi Primary School (5 million Shillings), Sambwe Orthodox Primary School (4.27 million Shillings), and Monde Roman Catholic Primary School (3.8 million Shillings).
Erukamu Wamala Kyoole, Chairperson of Luweero District Public Accounts Committee, stated that the headteachers failed to provide proper accountability during assessments by the internal auditor and the committee. Some headteachers were reported to have disregarded UPE grant guidelines and the Public Finance Management Act in their expenditure of the allocated funds.
The committee recommended that the Chief Administrative Officer recover the funds and consider demoting the headteachers. Bernard Okello, Luweero District Human Resource Officer, confirmed that letters demanding the refund of the funds have been sent to the headteachers, with further disciplinary actions pending.
Okello mentioned, “Last week we instituted mechanisms to recover the money from the headteachers’ salaries. Even those that are retired, we shall stop their pension till they pay the money.’’ Erastus Kibirango, LC 5 Chairman of Luwero district, emphasized that this recovery aims to enforce proper utilization of allocated funds by headteachers.
He warned that mismanagement would result in the district reclaiming the funds, even post-retirement. This move follows a similar incident last year when the District Public Accounts Committee recommended the recovery of 30 million Shillings from seven headteachers who also failed to account for UPE funds.
