The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Central Government has raised concerns over Gulu Regional Referral Hospital’s continued use of a manual payroll system, despite the Government having an integrated digital personnel and payroll system.
The MPs warned that the manual system could create loopholes for the continued payment of salaries to staff who are no longer eligible to receive them.
The concerns followed findings in the Auditor General’s Report for the Financial Year 2024/2025, which showed that Gulu Hospital paid Shs133 million over three months to 22 staff members who had either retired, transferred, absconded from duty or died.
Hon. Benjamin Cadet, the Bunyaruguru County MP, questioned why the hospital was still relying on manual processes instead of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll System (IPPS) operated by Government.
“Government through the Ministry of Public Service came up with an Integrated Personnel and Payroll System which is computerised and you are able to know when the civil servant started working and alerts you when he is about to retire, so that by the time you clock 60, it automatically generates pension or gratuity,” Cadet said.
Cadet said continued reliance on letters and manual processes could delay the removal of ineligible employees from the payroll.
“People at Gulu Hospital are deliberately refusing to use this computerised system, and opting for letters, thereby creating short cuts in pension or it is deliberate scam to keep swindling the money,” he said during the committee meeting on Tuesday, September 15, 2026.
However, the allegation of deliberate wrongdoing was not established by the committee during the meeting.
The legislators noted that paying salaries to officers who had ceased rendering services to Government contravenes Section 12 of the Public Standing Orders, 2021, which provides that payment of a public officer’s salary ceases when the officer stops rendering services to Government under whatever circumstances, including death.
The committee, chaired by Mbale Industrial Division MP Hon. Karim Masaba, expressed concern that delays in removing ineligible staff from the payroll had resulted in payments for services that were not rendered, contributing to an overstatement of expenditure.
Wakiso District Woman Representative Hon. Ethel Naluyima asked hospital officials how they intended to recover the money paid to the affected staff.
Naluyima also questioned the hospital’s continued reliance on the manual payroll system, noting that the Ministry of Public Service had previously explained to MPs how the digital system is intended to manage personnel and retirement processes.
“According to the Ministry of Public Service, this capital management system automatically detects someone of retirement age and transfers them such that they are now under the pension system,” Naluyima said.
She directed Gulu Hospital officials to document their justification for bypassing the digital system so that the committee could cross-check the explanation with the Ministry of Public Service.
Responding to the concerns, Gulu Regional Referral Hospital director Dr Peter Mukobi said the online system was not yet sufficiently automated to independently handle all retirement-related processes.
“The system is supposed to be automated to alert me on my retirement. However, to date, that automation is not yet in full effect and there is still a human hand that must be involved. It does not shift someone from the payroll upon retirement,” Mukobi said.
He explained that some of the affected staff continued working beyond their retirement dates because of delays in receiving retirement letters and completing handover processes.
The committee is expected to scrutinise the hospital’s explanation and establish how the Shs133 million was paid, whether the funds can be recovered and why staff who were no longer eligible remained on the payroll.
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