Prime Minister Bernard Makuza last week appeared before Parliament to explain what the government has done to recover close to Frw 6 billion which the auditor general indicated could not be accounted for in 2007.

Prime Minister Bernard Makuza. (file photo)

In his response towards recovering embezzled state finances, Makuza said, “it’s not easy to know how much money that the state has recovered.” He pointed out that, after the issuing of the report, there is a long process of investigations and bringing the cases to court.

He added that, even though examinations on the 2007 report began in July, at the same time investigations were still ongoing concerning the 2006 report, which has caused delays.

Makuza furthermore indicated that the mere mention in the auditor general’s report does not mean that there was embezzlement of funds. “There might have been cases of mismanagement which did not lead to losses because some people didn’t follow procedures. In such cases punitive administrative measures could be applied,” the Prime Minister said.

He indicated that so far only 16 institutions are under investigation, while 74 others are still being looked at. He said that for other cases evidenced is still being gathered.

So far, the number of embezzlement cases followed up by the prosecutor general’s office systematically since January 2009 is 726. According to Makuza, 958 people were being investigated on 524 charges while no decision has been made on the remaining 202.

The cases under srutiny include embezzlement of over Frw 2 billion; US$ 176,037 and €660,000; equipment such as 3,973 sacks of cement; 10,723 kilograms of iron nails; 217,400 kilograms of fertilizers; 344 tons of limestone and 58 mattresses.

In this cases a total of 152 officials are implicated in the embezzlement of finances and property.

MP Connie bwiza said she was appalled by the recurrent loss evident from the auditor general’s reports. She pointed out that it seems government employees were deliberately bypassing the legal framework to enrich themselves.

The MPs also took issue with the procurement procedure. According Juvenal Nkusi, the law states that in any procurement procedure, a 20% advance is supposed to be awarded, yet sometimes the advances amounted to 60 to 70%. “Is this an issue of the system or outright corruption?” Nkusi wondered.

Bernard Makuza pointed out that despite the issues faced in management of public funds, there were policies and laws that have been put in place giving the example of the procurement regulation.

He also remarked that the government had set benchmarks regarding official expenditures, and implemented cuts in housing, cars and phone allowances.

The Prime Minister added that efforts were made in capacity building, such as the training of accountants and budget officers. “Such trainings are aimed at implementing public finance management reforms,” Makuza said.  

James Musoni, the former Finance Minister, explained that even though there were cases of outright abuse of public funds, many faulty accounts come down to a lack of capacity.

“We need to continue capacity building until we have enough qualified professionals to perform the job,” Musoni said.