The ministries of education and finance continued to trade accusations with district chief administrative officers on Tuesday, over failure by government to release money for universal secondary education (USE) schools in the country.
On Monday, over 150 private secondary schools under USE programme cancelled end of term examinations citing lack of funds after government reportedly delayed to send the money. Government contributes about 47,000 shillings per student every term in USE schools.
But Aggrey Kibenge, the education ministry spokesperson insists that the USE funds were released on July 15th and distributed to the various districts. Kibenge, who does not disclose how much money was dispersed, claims that he personally appended signatures to the schools’ pay slip that was sent to the ministry of finance.
According to Kibenge, when the ministry approves any funds for payment, it takes two or three days for the finance ministry to disburse it to the respective recipients. Kibenge says the money should have reached the schools before the end of July.
Godfrey Bwoch, the Accountant General in the Ministry of Finance also told URN on phone today that the money for USE programme was disbursed in July.
Bwoch, who also declined to disclose how much money it was, explained that the money was sent to the schools’ respective districts as opposed to school accounts, which was the case previously.
Although the two ministries claim to have disbursed the funds last month, several chief administrative officers in the greater Masaka region say the money has never reached their respective accounts. Solomon Sonko, the Bukomansimbi CAO and his Rakai counterpart, James Nkata, have denied receipt of these funds.
Nkata explained that upon receiving information of money disbursement to their accounts last week, they have been checking the bank accounts but no single coin has so far reached them. Sonko said that they were not even notified of the funds transfer which makes the responsible ministries suspicious.
But the directors of the affected schools say the delay has affected their programmes. Musa Mawanda, the director of Kitengeesa Secondary school in Buwunga Sub County, claims the school suspended several programme because the school could not cope up with rising cost of living.
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