Government spent a staggering Shs 1.7bn in the 2015/16 financial year on servicing cars used by Resident District Commissioners (RDCs) and their deputies.
The officials are required to oversee security and monitor implementation of government programs in the various Districts across the country.
For their effective and efficient operations, they are required to be facilitated with mechanically sound vehicles.
However, the Auditor General observed that out of 175 vehicles provided to the commissioners, only 31 (18 percent) are below the recommended five years official use, while 144 (82 percent) have been used for over five years.
“This has led to frequent breakdowns due to age and rough terrains, translating into high maintenance costs. During the year under review, a sum of Shs.1.722bn was spent on maintenance of the entity vehicles with the RDCs vehicles taking a big part of it,” said the AG in his report for the year ending June 2016.
During the financial year 2015/2016 Office of the President procured only 10 double cabin pickups out of 144 due for replacement.
“I observed that this is low and requires revisiting.”
The Accounting officer attributed the high costs of vehicle maintenance to the aged fleet used by RDCs and DRDCs in the rugged rural terrain.
The Office had on several occasions raised funding requests with the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, but no positive response had been received.
The AG advised the Accounting Officer to continue engaging Ministry of Finance to allocate more funds to replace the ageing fleet.
Number of vehicles that have been in use for over 5 years:
Years covered Number of vehicles %
Above- 8 years 11 7.7%
Above -7 years 26 18.3%
Above 5 years 107 74. %
Total 144 100%
197