The Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is set to kick off the scrutiny into poor management of state finances in 85 public institutions and entities. During the probe, which begins on Wednesday, September 8, leaders of these entities will provide verbal explanations and shed light on irregularities in the management and use of state resources which were identified in the assessment of the 2019/2020 Auditor General’s report. The report was made public on May 11, 2021. Speaking to The New Times in a telephone interview, the Chairperson of PAC; Valens Muhakwa said that hearings are done as part of fact-finding and the institutions are selected based on performance. “We invite institutions and entities based on poor performance where they score less than 60 per cent after their projects are evaluated. We also look at those who had special audits that are not in the general auditor’s report,” he said. Responding to questions raised about the relevance of the hearings, Muhakwa explained that upon completion of the exercise, an elaborate report is put together and then forwarded to the relevant authorities for follow-up decisions and action. “Our duty is to establish what happened and who is responsible and then putting a report together that can help the concerned parties make a decision on how to go forward. There are two ways that the authorities deal with this. It can be prosecution or administrative sanctions.” he said. He reminded that over the last few years, action has been taken and some of the money has been recouped. MP John Ruku-Rwabyoma called for board members of the institutions that lose big sums of money to be held accountable. “We have board members who oversee activities in these institutions but I have never heard any of them being held accountable for the losses that the institutions have incurred. We need to hold them accountable,” he said. Some improvements Presenting his report in May, the Auditor-General, Obadiah Biraro told members of both chambers of parliament that there are fears that public funds amounting to over Rwf5.6 billion were either wasted or swindled during the 2019-2020 fiscal year. However, he added that although institutions should do better, this year’s irregular expenditures have reduced by Rwf3bn during the year ended 2019. “Despite the decreasing trend, public resource management in some public entities is still weak and needs improvement. Unnecessary, unlawful and wasteful expenditure would have been avoided if public entities exercised due care in their operations, coupled with prudent management of public resources,” he said. Prosecuting the crime The issue of what happens after the Auditor General has publicly released his report every year has a matter of debate. However, the National Public Prosecution Authority (NPPA) says that it has handled cases related to the 2017-18 Auditor General’s report. According to the figures, the prosecution handled 92 files related to this report, and some Rwf537m lost in embezzlement was returned before some of the cases went to trial in the last nine months. Over the same period, Prosecution has also taken 373 people to court over embezzlement and other corruption-related crimes.
