According to a recent report by the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) for the fiscal year 2023–2024, institutions and projects that were found to have irregularities in the management of public finances, will be the subject of public hearings by the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) from June 25 to July 15.
According to information from Parliament, senior officials, chief budget managers, and employees from the 109 governmental bodies and projects in question are anticipated to come before PAC as part of these inquiries.
Some public institutions will participate in the hearings by video conference, while others will appear in person before PAC. As representatives of public entities and other staff members answer questions regarding the mismanagement of public funds brought up by the OAG’s report, which Auditor General Alexis Kamuhire presented to Parliament on May 6, PAC members will be seated in its room on Parliament’s grounds.
Implementation of the Auditor General’s recommendations is moving slowly
The PAC hearings this year being held at a time when the report reveals, among other things, that the Auditor General’s recommendations are not being implemented as quickly as they should.
Sixty percent of the 4,983 audit recommendations made to public organizations in the previous year’s audits were fully implemented, which represents a mere one percentage point improvement over the performance of the previous year. Fifteen percent were partially implemented, and twenty-five percent were not implemented.
However, according to the study, putting the Auditor General’s recommendations into practice helps to enhance public financial management systems and guarantee that public resources are used effectively for the benefit of residents and national priorities.
Contract management flaws: instances of stopped and postponed projects
The report emphasized gaps in contract execution, showing that they are among the cross-cutting issues discovered by the audits, even though effective and efficient use of public funds and providing good service to the public are mostly dependent on adequate contract management.
Among them are instances of delayed contracts, in which work was still being done after the original contract period had passed. According to the OAG’s report, 17 contracts totaling more than Rwf130 billion were awarded in the year that concluded on June 30, 2024, while projects totaling more than Rwf551.9 billion were awarded in the year that ended on June 2023.
According to the OAG, its audits discovered 23 instances of construction projects that were stopped, totaling Rwf19 billion in 2024 as opposed to Rwf38 billion in 2023.
Projects that have been put on hold for a variety of reasons but may be picked up again and finished are referred to as stalled projects.
OAG assists in locating and recouping possible losses in project design and billing
The study claims that the OAG is still using a preventive audit technique to examine contracts either before or during implementation. While there was still hope for recovery, this auditing method assisted in identifying monetary losses.
Public entities recovered or adjusted the inflated bills of quantities by Rwf9.29 billion out of Rwf9.39 billion reported with a chance to recover, according to follow-up audits conducted to evaluate the progress made by the management of the entities in question to recover or adjust excess amounts in bills of quantities and payments in the previous year.
Nonetheless, the audits this year discovered further instances of financial losses exceeding Rwf913 million, which are probably recoverable.
According to the research, improperly structured contracts, poor construction project supervision, and invoice reviews prior to payment were the causes of the losses.