The Auditor General, Edward Akol has handed over the final audit reports for the Umeme concession to the Speaker of Parliament Rt Hon Anita Among.
This follows the Auditor General asking Parliament recently to halt the approval of the US$190M loan from Stanbic Bank for the Umeme buyout, due to the various figures fronted by different Gov’t agencies on the amounts due to Umeme. His advice was however ignored by MPs who went on to approve the loan.
The speaker was informed that the US$190,988,556 (Shs700.218Bn) loan from Stanbic Bank meant for Umeme buyout was in excess of over Shs267.614Bn because the only amount due to Umeme is US$118m (Sh432.677Bn).
While receiving the audit report into end of Umeme Concession from the Auditor General, she indicated that Parliament agreed to pass the loan on condition that the amount to be paid to Umeme would be the one audited by the Auditor General.
The speaker after receiving the report vowed to halt the loan due to an excess of Shs267billion.
The Speaker also thanked both Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA) and Uganda Electricity Distribution Company Limited for providing all the required documents to the Auditor General that helped in completion of the audit and further asked Government to ensure Ugandans get better services upon takeover.
“We also want to thank ERA, for supporting the Auditor General in providing all the required documents that are required to complete the audit. And we pray that as UEDCL takes over, that we get better services. We really pray that we get better services,” added Among.
“When we last had a sitting in the house, what was brought on the floor for approval, the loan which was brought in the house was $190 million. I am aware that the audit is completed and the approved amount that has come out of audit is about $118 million. So we should be able to pay what Auditor General is reporting, not the estimate that we are given. And as we made a disclaimer that day, that we shall only pay based on the Auditor General’s report,” remarked Among.
Yesterday UMEME issued a public notice on its concession for electricity distribution ended after the 28th February 2025.
