By Fidel Boy Leon
“They milk the cow, but the calf goes hungry.” That age-old African proverb rings true in Uganda’s latest audit revelations, where billions borrowed in the name of development are being squandered on inflated contracts, leaving citizens with potholes instead of progress.
The Committee on Public Accounts (Central Government) has sounded the alarm over massive cost discrepancies in government-funded infrastructure projects, exposing how taxpayers are paying up to three times more for roads of similar length and quality.
In its report on the Auditor General’s findings for the 2023/2024 financial year, the committee cites glaring cases of inflated spending. Rehabilitating a 1.37-kilometre road in Arua City, for instance, cost Shs13.4 billion, while a 2.68-kilometre stretch in Fort Portal cost Shs21.4 billion. Yet in Mbarara City, one kilometre cost just Shs4.9 billion.
These roads measure almost the same, yet the costs vary abnormally. Such discrepancies are unjustifiable and point to inflated contracts and loss of public funds,” said Hon. Muhammad Muwanga Kivumbi, the PAC Chairperson, during the plenary sitting on Tuesday, 09 September 2025.
According to Ministry of Works and Transport estimates, the average cost of upgrading a kilometre of paved road should be about Shs3.1 billion. By this standard, Arua’s 1.37-kilometre road cost more than triple the expected amount.
“The Fort Portal project alone could have financed nearly seven kilometres instead of the 2.6 kilometres,” noted Muwanga Kivumbi, also MP for Butambala County.
The committee also flagged supervision costs that swallowed up huge sums. In Arua, supervising the 1.37km road cost Shs3 billion, while in Mubende, supervision for a 2.86km stretch consumed Shs2.5 billion. PAC described this trend as “obnoxious,” pointing to collusion between contractors and project monitors.
These inflated costs have deprived Ugandans of better roads, schools and hospitals. Borrowed money is wasted on enriching a few individuals. The Government is losing money through inflated contracts and weak supervision,” the report stated.
The revelations come at a time when Uganda is struggling under the weight of debt repayments. PAC disclosed that out of Shs7.958 trillion in loans and Shs3.97 trillion in grants secured to finance development projects, less than half was put to use.
Only 48.2 percent of loans and 25.6 percent of grants were absorbed, while many projects remain incomplete. Out of 17 loans reviewed, the average disbursement stood at just 36.7 percent. Some projects barely took off, like the Mbarara-Masaka Transmission Line, which stood at only 0.3 percent despite its deadline passing in June 2023.
The Speaker of Parliament, Anita Among, expressed concern that the government will continue to pay interest on idle loans. “We will give this item a day’s sitting for debate.” We need to look at it seriously because we are paying for loans that we are not using,” she said.
The Minister for Defence and Veteran Affairs, Hon. Jacob Oboth, urged Parliament to devise proposals that would help government manage loans more efficiently to ensure value for money.
For PAC, however, the message is already clear: Uganda’s taxpayers are losing billions to wasteful contracts, bloated supervision fees, and idle loans.
As the proverb goes, “The forest not only hides the hunter, it hides the hunted as well.” Unless accountability takes root, the billions borrowed in the name of development will remain hidden in inflated figures—while citizens continue to hunger for the services those funds were meant to deliver.