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The auditor General Edward Akol handed over the Report for the financial year ending June 2025 to speaker Anita Among. In this report particularly on the National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO) reveals a lot of rot amidst power struggles at the top agricultural research body headquartered in Entebbe.
At the centre of the storm is the Director General, Dr. Yona Baguma whose four-year contract will be expiring in April next year. He was appointed in April 2023 by the Minister of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) to replace the ailing Dr. Ambrose Agona.
The Director General Baguma now finds himself presiding over an institution drowning in arrears crippled by vaccines and dogged by questions over the long delayed anti-tick vaccine that President Museveni pushed and championed with all his energies.
At the start of the financial year 2024/2025, NARO had accumulated arrears amounting to Shs4.12 billion. Of this, only Shs100 million was settled. The rest hovers above the institution like a dark cloud. Similarly, out of an approved 1,242 staff positions, only 769 were filled leaving a gapping 38% vacancy rate.
This now means NARO has laboratories without scientists, research stations without technicians. An agricultural research giant running on half it’s required capacity with one official preferring anonymity telling the Red Pepper that “You can not talk about innovation when nearly 40 percent of your structure is empty. Who is supposed to deliver the miracles?”
Five procurements worth UGX 5.61billion exceeded their original contract and implementation timelines Two projects worth UGX 7.30 billion were delayed by an average of three months. Quarterly performance reports were submitted 58 days late on average, crippling timely expenditure decisions.
Also important to note is that assets worth UGX10.79 billion were found idle or underutilized. Also, equipment worth UGX150 million lay non-functional due to lack of servicing. Buildings valued at UGX 1.57 billion are deteriorating because of neglected repairs “We are watching taxpayers’ money rust away”, a source at one of the institutes lamented.
Land management paints an even darker picture. Non-current assets worth UGX19.9 billion lacked adequate security safeguards. Several parcels of land were not fenced. Some buildings were constructed on untitled land. Thirteen pieces of land measuring 922.15 hectares have no land titles. Twenty pieces of land face encroachment and court disputes. Meanwhile, assets worth UGX2.29 billion acquired during the year were not even recorded in the assets register.
“How do you fail to record UGX 2.79 billion in assets? Is this incompetence or something more sinister?” asked a governance expert familiar with the report.
Even strategic planning appears shaky under Dr. Yona Baguma. The National Development Plan III (NDP III) was underfunded by 17.1%, affecting implementation. Worse still, NARO had not carried out the end of term review of the NDP III to inform the new Strategic Plan. Lessons were not formally captured. “It’s like driving a car without checking the rear-view mirror,”-an insider said.
Revenue performance was equally unimpressive. NARO budgeted to collect UGX 7.33 billion in Non-Tax Revenue but only managed UGX 6.24 billion, an 85% performance. Yet during FY 2024/25, UGX 176 billion was appropriated and fully spent. On 13 outputs worth UGX132.48 billion assessed, only two outputs worth UGX 0.1 billion were fully implemented. Eight outputs worth UGX 132.25 billion were only partially implemented. Two outputs were not implemented at all, and one output could not even be assessed due to lack of performance targets and indicators.
Frustration Over the Anti-tick Vaccine Saga
The president has repeatedly emphasized local vaccine production to protect Uganda’s livestock sector. Billions have been poured into research with farmer eagerly waiting and expectations soaring for relief.
Yet the audit reveals that NARO had not completed and commissioned the vaccine production facility for animal vaccines. As a result, production of the anti-tick vaccine had not commenced at the time of the audit. The intended intervention objective remains unmet.
Even more astonishing and frustrating is that NARO hired 22 consultants to operate the vaccine production facility. At the time of the audit, they had not been paid their fees. Twenty-two consultants, no operational facility and no vaccine production.
What exactly are the consultants consulting on?” one agricultural scientist asked bitterly. This project has become a symbol of everything that is wrong.”
The ghosts of a 2021 whistleblower report have returned to haunt the institution. That explosive dossier alleged misappropriation of UGX 1 billion allocated by the Ministry of Finance for anti-tick vaccine research. The report accused the then top management at the NARO Secretariat in Entebbe of abusing the funds.
It alleged that large portions of the money were spent on foreign “benchmarking” trips by top managers who were not even scientists, while tick experts were left behind. “The trips were all about earning foreign travel allowances, nothing else,” the whistle blower claimed.
The report further alleged that when NaLIIRI’s internal audit systems raised queries, some officials behind the noise were shutdown and swiftly transferred to NaSAARI-Serere on express orders from the Secretariat. A February 7, 2019 letter from the then DG Dr. Ambrose Agone to the State House Anti-Corruption Unit was cited as containing “falsehoods.”
While these allegations predate Baguma’s tenure, critics argue that the culture they point to may still linger.
Under the Uganda Climate-Smart Agricultural Transformation Project (UCSATP), NARO was underfunded by UGX 12.70 billion, representing 27%, severely affecting research activities. In addition, NARO failed to absorb UGX 3.36 billion of the funds that were availed. “How do you cry about underfunding and then fail to spend what you receive?”- an official familiar with donor financing asked.
Meanwhile, NARO Holdings Ltd delayed production of Aflasfe due to delayed installation of the production equipment. Out of 11 treasury Memorandum recommendations for FY 2021/22, only two were fully implemented. Seven were partially implemented. Two were not implemented at all.
And now, with Dr. Yona Baguma’s contract ticking April next year expiry, the knives are reportedly out. Sources say the fight over his job has already begun. The battlelines are between Deputy Director General Research Coordination Dr. Swidiq Mugerwa, and Deputy Director General Agricultural Technology Promotion Dr. Sadik Kassim. Director Corporate Services Dr. Stevens Kisaka is said to be quietly observing events.
“The succession was started early”, one insider whispered. “Some people don’t want Baguma back. Others are positioning themselves.”
Is Baguma to blame for all this? Or did he inherit a deeply entrenched system resistant to reform? Supporters argue that structural underfunding and historical baggage are weighing him down yet critics insist that leadership is about results not excuses.
President Museveni who has personally pushed for scientific breakthroughs to transform agriculture, will undoubtedly be disappointed that the anti-tick vaccine remains unproduced despite years of funding and promises.
For now, the Auditor General’s findings have thrown NARO into spotlight and the fight for the future of Uganda’s agricultural research empire has only just begun.
Source: The RedPepper
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