The Inspectorate of Government has directed the Town Clerk of Mbale City to recover more than Shs66 million from 20 city officials who were irregularly overpaid due to payroll mismanagement.
In a press statement issued on March 5, the anti-corruption body said the directive followed investigations conducted by its Mbale Regional Office.
“The Inspectorate of Government has directed the City Town Clerk of Mbale City to cause the recovery of Shs66,544,418 from 20 workers who were irregularly overpaid salaries due to mismanagement of the payroll,” the statement said.
The Inspectorate further instructed that the affected officials refund the money by depositing it into the institution’s Assets Recovery account held at the Bank of Uganda.
According to the statement, investigations established that the 20 employees received irregular salary payments amounting to Shs66,544,418 between the 2022/23 and 2024/25 financial years.
“According to investigations, 20 employees of Mbale City received irregular salaries totaling Shs66,544,418 between FY2022/23 and FY2024/25,” the statement noted.
The Inspectorate added that during interviews with investigators, the affected officials admitted receiving the excess payments.
“During the interviews, all the 20 officials stated that they used the money for their personal gain and did not return any cash to the city authorities. They also expressed readiness to refund the money,” the statement said.
Explaining the circumstances that led to the payroll errors, Mbale City Human Resource Officer Abdu Higenyi said the irregular payments mainly occurred during transitions between payroll systems.
“The irregular payments mainly happened when they migrated to new systems,” Higenyi said.
He explained that in July 2022, when salaries for science teachers were enhanced and new salary scales introduced, a mix-up resulted in excess payments to some staff.
Higenyi added that another error occurred in June 2025 when Mbale City migrated from the Integrated Personnel and Payroll System to the Human Capital Management System, leading to additional payroll discrepancies.
The Inspectorate said the directive is intended to ensure recovery of public funds and promote accountability in the management of government payroll systems.
