ROME EMBASSY EXPOSED! Investigation Uncovers Shocking Waste, Chaos & Questionable Payments at Uganda Mission in Italy
Uganda’s Embassy in Rome, Italy has landed in fresh embarrassment after the Auditor General unearthed a trail of questionable expenditures, poor supervision, weak accountability systems and failures to implement key government programmes under the watch of top mission officials.
The damning findings contained in the Auditor General’s December 2025 report paint a disturbing picture of an embassy struggling with operational discipline despite consuming billions of taxpayers’ money meant to promote Uganda’s interests abroad.
The Rome mission, headed by H.E. Amb. Elizabeth Paula Napeyok, who serves as Head of Mission and Permanent Representative to FAO, WFP and IFAD, together with Deputy Head of Mission Kemerwa Alinemary Kenyangi, First Secretary and Accounting Officer Daniel Ssekabembe, Second Secretary Tolofaina Nasikye, Administrative Attaché Geraldine Kaganzi and Financial Attaché Atuheire Annet, now finds itself under intense scrutiny following revelations that several strategic interventions completely stalled while questionable financial decisions continued unchecked.
According to the report, the Embassy failed to fully implement any of the nine planned strategic interventions outlined in its strategic plan despite receiving funding meant to drive Uganda’s agenda in agro-industrialisation, community mobilisation and mindset change, development plan implementation, governance and security, human capital development, manufacturing and tourism development.
The failure to fully execute any of the planned interventions raised serious questions about planning, coordination and supervision within the mission, especially at a time Uganda has been aggressively marketing itself internationally for tourism, investment and trade opportunities.
Auditors further uncovered a shocking case involving continued rent payments for a deceased staff member months after death.
The report states that one member of staff passed away in January 2025 and the body was repatriated back to Uganda. However, despite the death and repatriation, the Embassy astonishingly continued paying rent amounting to €7,800, equivalent to UGX31.2 million, up to June 2025.
The Auditor General classified the expenditure as wasteful, exposing glaring weaknesses in financial controls and administrative oversight at the mission.
The scandal has triggered questions on who exactly authorised the continued payments, why internal systems failed to immediately halt the rent obligations after the death of the officer, and whether anyone within the Embassy benefited from the continued payments.
The report further exposes glaring accountability gaps in foreign travel expenditures by embassy officials.
Auditors observed that several officers were facilitated with travel allowances to undertake various official missions, but the accountability documents submitted lacked critical details including mission objectives, expected outputs and intended outcomes.
Even more troubling, auditors noted there was no proper mechanism for reporting and evaluating the results of these foreign missions, making it impossible to determine whether taxpayers received value for money or whether the travels aligned with Uganda’s operational and strategic objectives abroad.
The findings now raise concerns that some foreign trips may have been conducted without measurable impact while public funds continued flowing into travel budgets.
The management systems within the embassy were equally put on the spot after auditors discovered that staff appraisals were not being conducted regularly, with some employees reportedly going for four years without any appraisal exercise.
The absence of performance evaluations means the mission operated for years without proper staff assessments, accountability measurements or structured performance reviews — a situation experts say creates fertile ground for inefficiency, complacency and operational decline.
The report also uncovered controversial severance-related payments that contradicted Italian labour laws.
Auditors noted that €19,231, equivalent to UGX76.92 million, was paid out to one member of staff as advance severance pay contrary to provisions of the Italian Civil Code.
The revelation has sparked concern over possible disregard of local laws governing employment and financial obligations in Italy, potentially exposing Uganda’s mission to legal complications and reputational damage.
Questions are now being asked over who approved the advance payment, under what justification the money was released, and whether legal guidance was sought before effecting the payment.
The Auditor General further flagged procurement irregularities involving air ticket purchases.
According to the report, contrary to PPDA regulations, air tickets were purchased directly by staff members who later sought reimbursement from the Embassy.
Auditors warned that the practice exposes the mission to commitments without available funds, unreasonable pricing arrangements and possible fraud risks.
The arrangement effectively bypassed normal procurement safeguards designed to protect public funds and ensure accountability in government expenditure.
The findings have intensified concerns about internal controls at the Rome mission, with critics arguing that allowing staff to individually procure tickets before reimbursement opens loopholes for inflated pricing, abuse and manipulation of travel expenditures.
Despite the alarming management weaknesses, the report technically gave the Embassy an “Unqualified” audit opinion, though the detailed findings revealed deep operational and administrative failures underneath the clean opinion.
Performance implementation was equally described as worrying.
Assessment by auditors established that only one output worth UGX0.29 billion was fully implemented, while five outputs valued at UGX5.11 billion were only partially achieved.
The underperformance, according to the report, denied timely delivery of services to intended beneficiaries and weakened implementation of government priorities abroad.
The revelations have now placed intense pressure on the Embassy leadership team to explain how billions allocated to strategic operations produced limited results while wasteful expenditures and questionable practices flourished within the mission.
Observers say the Rome Embassy findings reflect a much wider accountability crisis affecting several Ugandan foreign missions where operational supervision, financial discipline and implementation monitoring continue to remain weak despite increasing public expenditure.
With the Auditor General now shining a spotlight on the Embassy’s internal operations, attention is expected to turn to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other oversight agencies to determine whether disciplinary, administrative or criminal investigations will follow over the disturbing findings emerging from Uganda’s diplomatic mission in Rome.
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