The Auditor General (AG) has released a report in which he assesses the transparency of finances of the 27 districts across Rwanda. The AG shows that districts have made progress in their financial disclosure. Out of the 27 districts, 25 of them (92.5 per cent) obtained a financial clean audit opinion, which implies the AG reviewed their financial statements and was convinced that they were presented fairly and accurately. The number of districts with financial clean audit opinions in Rwanda has significantly increased from just three in 2021 to 12 in 2022 and 25 in 2023. In 2023, only two districts (Kamonyi and Ruhango) obtained “except for” qualifications in their financial audit. This kind of audit qualification means that the auditor may disagree with the treatment or disclosure of a matter in the financial statements but concludes that the effect of the disagreement is not so significant that an adverse opinion is required. The best way to look at this is to think of financial statements of districts as a report card, and a clean audit opinion is like scoring an A+ from an independent teacher who sees your grades as accurate and reflects your true performance. That gives the public the confidence that their districts and public officials who are publicly elected in offices are transparent. It is a way to even hold them accountable, a key ingredient for development and transformation. This kind of audit improvement shows progress that is being made in how public finances are managed. It means that public offices are able to prove how and where finances go, perhaps because the government has increased financial expertise in districts. When the Government collects revenue from taxes of hard-working citizens, and the proceeds are allocated to public entities, which are then spent on development projects, citizens expect that the funds will be spent to benefit them. Failure to justify how funds are spent raises transparency and accountability concerns. While clean audit opinions do not guarantee future performance, it is a step in the right direction. Now the next step should be making sure that the resources allocated to districts are spent on priorities that benefit the masses.
