Speaker orders for auditing of poor performing COSASE

The Speaker of Parliament, Anita Annet Among, has expressed disappointment with the public accounts committee (COSASE) for its bad performance as far as examining the reports and audited accounts of public entities are concerned.

According to the speaker, Article 163(5) of the Constitution gives Parliament six months after the submission of the Auditor General’s report to debate and consider the report and take appropriate action.

She said the period has elapsed and COSASE has only handled 4 entities out of the 107 required.

“I have subsequently ordered an audit on the performance of COSASE. We have invested lots of money in the committee to perform its duties but there are no results,” she said.

In response, the Leader of Opposition, Mathias Mpuuga, said he takes in good faith the Speaker’s observation on the performance of accountability committees and pledged to hold an in-house meeting to iron out these administrative challenges.

Mpuuga noted that these accountability committees are headed by the opposition but 99 percent of the membership is from the ruling party hence when work is curtailed, it is an indictment to all.

“I know leadership is key but all of us must work to make sure these committees perform and nobody should curtail their work because they are chaired by the opposition,” he explained.

Relatedly, COSASE Chairperson, Joel Ssenyonyi, appreciated the observations of the speaker regarding the performance of the accountability committee.

He appreciated her guidance and noted that as a committee, they should be able to do a lot more than they are doing, challenges notwithstanding.