Auditor General’s Report: 5 Public Universities Teach 222 Expired Courses, Covid Vaccines worth Shs28.2bn expired while in stores

In a startling revelation, the Auditor General’s Report 2022/23 disclosed a staggering finding that five public universities are currently offering a total of 222 courses that have reached their expiration date.

The Auditor General, John Muwanga, presented a report to Parliament’s Speaker, Anita Among, on Tuesday unearthing a distressing reality within the country’s public universities.

The report’s stark revelation pointed fingers at five esteemed institutions—Makerere University, Kyambogo University, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Makerere University Business School, and Gulu University—for offering a startling total of 222 courses that have significantly exceeded their relevance and relevance within the current educational landscape.

Muwanga’s meticulous audit revealed a disconcerting trend wherein these universities continued to teach courses that have become obsolete, potentially jeopardizing the quality of education being imparted to students. Makerere, long regarded as a bastion of higher education, found itself among the implicated institutions offering over 120 expired courses.

Other prominent universities, including Kyambogo with 63 expired courses, MUB with 15, MUST with 21, and Gulu University with 3 ongoing courses past their expiration, further compound the gravity of the Auditor General’s findings. This revelation not only highlights systemic deficiencies but also ignites serious apprehensions regarding the competence and adaptability of Uganda’s higher education system.

According to the report, analysis of programmes from 5 Universities revealed that out of the 629 programmes, only 332 were accredited, 138 had been sent to the National Council for Higher Education for accreditation, while 222 were not accredited.

The courses flagged in the report spanned various disciplines, showcasing an alarming diversity of outdated offerings across fields of study. This disconcerting discovery casts a shadow on the efficacy of academic curricula and the universities’ responsiveness to the evolving demands of industries and professions. On the same note, this revelation not only raises questions about the quality of education being provided but also underscores the need for urgent corrective measures in the nation’s academic landscape.

In another jarring revelation, the Auditor General’s report unearthed a staggering mismanagement of COVID-19 vaccines within the National Medical Stores (NMS). Shockingly, the report exposed that a staggering 5,619,120 doses of COVID-19 vaccines, valued at Shs28.159 billion, had expired while stored in the NMS facilities.

These vaccines, crucially acquired through a loan from the World Bank to aid in Uganda’s pandemic response, had tragically gone to waste due to poor inventory management and oversight.

The report outlined that out of a total stockpile of 12,595,920 doses of COVID-19 vaccines in NMS storage, over 5.6 million doses had reached their expiration date. The financial loss incurred due to these expired vaccines was alarmingly high and underscored a significant failure in vaccine distribution and utilization.

Disturbingly, additional expired vaccines remained scattered across various health facilities nationwide, hinting at an impending combined loss estimated at a staggering Shs300 billion in the upcoming year.

This critical lapse in effectively utilizing the World Bank loan, intended to bolster Uganda’s COVID-19 response, emphasized the dire need for stringent oversight and efficient distribution mechanisms within the country’s healthcare infrastructure.

According to the report, the substantial financial loss and wasted vaccine doses not only reflect a significant failure in handling public health resources but also pose severe setbacks in the nation’s ongoing battle against the pandemic. The report’s findings raised serious concerns about the accountability and management of vital resources allocated for public health emergencies.

In another shock, the report uncovered a disconcerting revelation regarding the presence of ‘ghost workers’ across various government entities. A staggering sum of Shs53 billion was identified as requiring recovery from a total of 10,192 individuals initially listed on the government’s payroll. However, during a comprehensive verification exercise conducted in February 2023, these individuals were discovered to have either passed away, retired, or absconded from their duties, rendering their inclusion in the payroll erroneous and unjustified.

This extensive audit undertaken by the Office of the Auditor General encompassed a thorough validation process involving 367 entities within the government framework. This exhaustive audit spanned 162 Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), 179 Local Governments, and 29 other Government organizations. The objective was to authenticate and verify the legitimacy of all employees enlisted within these entities, ensuring the accuracy and integrity of the government’s salary disbursement system.

The identification of over 10,000 individuals categorized as ‘ghost workers’ highlights a systemic issue of mismanagement and discrepancies within the government’s payroll structure. The discovery also underscores the urgent need for stringent mechanisms to prevent such irregularities in the future, ensuring the payroll system accurately reflects active, legitimate employees within the public sector.

The Auditor General’s recommendation to recover the misappropriated funds emphasizes the importance of rectifying these discrepancies and fortifying the government’s financial accountability measures.