Representatives of several public entities have expressed willingness to address key gaps and accounting errors that appear frequently in Auditor General’s reports leading to misuse of public funds. About 150 public servants took part in a three-day training dubbed ‘Project Management Conference’ organised by Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Rwanda (ICPAR), that was held in Rubavu on from September 28 to 30. The training was expected to equip public servants with technical and practical skills to avoid further mistakes resulting in misuse of public funds through mismanagement of government projects. According Marie Noella Zimulinda Umukesha, one of the participants who works with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, there are projects which have not been monitored and evaluated during their implementation and it is discovered that the money allocated was used for something else. “There are public entities which do not monitor their projects, you find that people are given money and they do not follow up on what it is meant for. These are some of the mistakes that need to be corrected, it is a necessity,’’ she said. Similarly, inadequate knowledge is one of the factors that cause project failure as Jean Marie Vianney Kagenza, director of Green Gicumbi at Rwanda Green Fund said. “In general, lack of expertise is also a challenge hindering project implementations. Knowledge and specification is a necessity in any area for project planning and implementation, we expect to learn more from here,” he noted. Speaking to The New Times, Amin Miramago, The CEO of Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Rwanda, noted that, according to the Auditor General, there are still mistakes which always come back that the training seeks to address. “There are still huge issues which keep coming back day-to-day in project management. It is important that we address these issues to the core,” he said. The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Infrastructure, Fidèle Abimana, highlighted the need to avoid errors that root from poorly drafted contracts. With reference to the recent Auditor General’s report, Abimana said that such challenges are the factors for not meeting the Auditor General’s recommendations. We still have a number of stalled projects. Some are experiencing persistent low budget absorption in their implementation. We still have contract management issues, and still failing to implement the Auditor General’s recommendations.” Abimana said. Other issues he pointed out include continued delays in paying suppliers.
