The stores team at the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) has said it released more than 5,000 iron sheets to beneficiaries on the basis of telephone calls and WhatsApp messages.

The approach has been described by insiders as “highly irregular” and in breach of public service standing orders on management of government property.

In an official explanation upon request by OPM Permanent Secretary Keith Muhakanizi, the senior inventory management officer in a February 13 internal memo noted that an aide to Karamoja Affairs minister and another official telephoned to inform them that, subject to time-to-time guidance, beneficiaries of 12,200 iron sheets would be arriving to pick the items.

By this time, according to the memo, 5,500 G28 corrugated pre-painted iron sheets had already been distributed.

A senior government official familiar with the accounting procedure in government described the approach by the OPM team as “highly irregular”, arguing that the requisition should have been in writing with an attachment of the distribution list duly signed by the instructing officer.