The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) sitting to scrutinize the auditor general’s report and queries for the last financial year 2022/2023 today has hit a snag after officials from the office of the Prime Minister (OPM) failed to appear with the accounting officers who were in charge of the office in the last financial year.

The officers led by the permanent secretary Dunstan Balaba had been invited to respond to these queries but soon the MPs found out that the team from OPM did not appear with the officers responsible for accounting for these funds.

Following the invitation from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to accounting officers at the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) seeking a response to the auditor general’s queries for the last financial year 2022/2023 today, officers led by the permanent secretary Dunstan Balaba made an appearance.

However, it was later uncovered that the representatives from the office of the prime minister did not consist of officials who had been in office during the period of the audit.

The chairperson of the committee, hon. Muwanga Kivumbi questioned the team’s failure to appear with the responsible accounting officers who were in charge of the office during the year in question.

To this, Balaba informed the committee that the entity at the time of the audit had about three accounting officers and two of the accounting officers were under interdiction.

Some of the MPs expressed their disappointment and tasked Balaba to explain why he did not come with the past accounting officers when they had been officially written to.

In his response, Balaba sought an apology for the oversight.

Following several opinions raised by the MPs, the chair was prompted to adjourn the meeting.