The Minister of Education Valentine Uwamariya is expected to appear before parliament on Tuesday July 27 where she will for the second time attempt to shed light on issues related to the Integrated Education Business Management Information System (IEBMIS) used by the University of Rwanda (UR). IEBMIS is a system that was acquired to automate UR’s core processes including registration, financial and human resources management. Auditor General’s concerns In his report for the year ended June 30, 2019, the Auditor General Obadiah Biraro said that while the system is not being deployed to its full capacity and is not serving the intended purpose, the university continues to invest money to service it. “The report said the system was not serving its intended purpose while UR continues to spend money on it and on external consultants. Only three out of 14 modules of IEBMIS equivalent to 21.4 percent are partially utilized while 11 modules equivalent to 78.6 per cent have never been put to use,” he said. Available data indicates that the system has accumulated over Rwf2.3 billion since it was acquired nine years ago. Unsatisfactory answers In June this year, Uwamariya appeared in the lower chamber of parliament where she blamed the 2013 merging of the former National University of Rwanda with other public higher learning institutions to form the University of Rwanda. This, she said, meant that the system was to be rolled out across other institution whose staff had not been trained on how to use it. She explained that the university has set up a team of lecturers and students who will help it develop an original system that will be integrated with the national-level systems used by the Government for similar purposes. However, the lawmakers found her explanations ‘unsatisfactory’. She was then given a specific number of questions which she was obliged to respond to within a period of 15 days. The vice president of the Lower Chamber of Parliament, Edda Mukabagwiza explained to the national broadcaster that the process to summon a Minister for the second time is not unusual. “Once a minister is invited to appear before a plenary session and the MPs feel that they are not satisfied with his or her responses, the Minster is given a list of questions that require deeper and more specific answers in writing. After this, a day is then set they are re-invited back to Parliament to verbally answer these questions. This is not unusual,” she said. Uwamariya has been at the helm of the education ministry since February last year. She pledged to work towards addressing the existing challenges in the sector particularly finding solutions to issues that have constantly been raised by the public.
