Overview:
The directive was issued by Medard Lubega, the Chairperson COSASE, on Tuesday during the meeting held between the Committee and officials of UWA who had appeared to respond to several audit queries raised in the December 2023 Auditor General’s report.
Parliament’s Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) has ordered for a forensic audit into the Shs500m gorilla permit fraud that occurred at Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) after the Auditor General reported that he was denied access to the chimpanzee and gorilla booking data during the audit process.
The directive was issued by Medard Lubega, the Chairperson COSASE, on Tuesday during the meeting held between the Committee and officials of UWA who had appeared to respond to several audit queries raised in the December 2023 Auditor General’s report.
“You know that is an audit ordered by the Minister and by standards when the Minister orders for an audit, that one goes to him. Now, we are also ordering for a forensic audit. We are also ordering a forensic in the same affairs,” said Lubega.
The Auditor General, John Muwanga noted that although UWA reported to have collected Shs22.461Bn as revenue from Gorilla and Chimpanzee tracking in 2022/23, but his request for data regarding financial transactions such as records of invoices, payment and reconciliation to the system was denied, a decision he said limits his audit work into verifying the correctness of the said earned revenue.
Col. (Rtd) Tom Butime, the Minister of Tourism, Wildlife, and Antiquities, in 2023 acknowledged that UWA’s internal audit investigations uncovered potential illegal sales of gorilla and chimpanzee tracking permits involving some staff members. This illicit activity resulted in a financial loss of at least 500 million Shillings between June and August 2023.
It’s worth noting that the cost of a single gorilla trekking permit in Uganda is US $700, approximately 2.6 million Shillings per person. However, the prices of mountain gorilla permits vary by country, with Rwanda having the most expensive permits at US$1,500 (approximately 5.5 million Shillings) and the Democratic Republic of Congo offering the cheapest permits at US$400, equivalent to 1.4 million Shillings.
Uganda is renowned as the “Pearl of Africa” due to its significant population of approximately 459 mountain gorillas, which represents half of the world’s total number of these endangered species. Gorilla tracking in Uganda is conducted in two destinations: Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park.