A new directive designed to strengthen accountability for public funds in ministries has been issued by the Prime Minister.

According to the directive, effective July, Cabinet ministers will have to take full responsibility for funds allocated to their ministries as an accountability measure and risk punitive measures if funds are not well spent.

The development was revealed on Tuesday by Justice Minister, Johnston Busingye, while appearing before the Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC), to present policy measures to curb loss of government funds as highlighted in several past Auditor General’s reports.

"Since the publication of the 2011/12 AG report, the Prime Minister’s office has worked hard to find a solution to avoid losses and ensure that all government officials are held accountable,” the minister said.

"The Prime Minister has summoned all government officials from the district level to find a solution to proper management of public funds. It is in this spirit that Cabinet ministers will now have a responsibility of overseeing the budget allocated to their ministries,” Busingye said.

Currently, budget implementation is executed by the Permanent Secretaries who serve as chief budget managers. Cabinet ministers are not anywhere connected to budget execution.

Busingye said the Prime Minister instructed ministers to supervise the operations of the chief budget manager.

This implies that ministers will be held accountable for  misuse of public funds.

Minister hold a political responsibility in their respective dockets and some may not have the technical expertise to manage funds.

However, when asked if the punitive measures against a minister who has not delivered on his promise include a jail sentence, Busingye pointed out that no one is above the law.

"Being a minister means you have taken on political responsibility and this means there are also administrative sanctions and penalties that can be taken against you,” he said.

Meanwhile, PAC chairperson, Juvenal Nkusi asked the minister to explain the mechanisms in place to ensure public funds are not lost in unjustified tenders.

In his response, Busingye outlined reasons for the losses and the mitigation mechanisms underway.

He said previously, over 120 legal officers employed in different government entities had no say on the tenders awarded from their respective institutions. But this has since changed.

"We instructed all government entities to seek legal advice from the Attorney General’s office rather than hiring private lawyers,” the minister said.

"We previously observed that private lawyers never took the court trials involving the state seriously since they could still get paid even if they lost the case anyway,” he added.

Contacted for comment on the latest move, the Auditor General Obadiah Biraro said ministers being the overall in charge of ministries, act as sector supervisors and involving them in budget execution will reduce chances of mismanagement of public funds.

"Supervision should not necessarily be understood to be day-to-day micro management of the operations of the office. It is responsible accounting. Such collective responsibility is for the good of the ministry,” Biraro said.

"The minister’s word and role is very important to ensure proper management of resources. It will be a positive contribution towards ministries performance,” he added.

In a related development, the Prosecutor General, Richard Muhumuza appeared before PAC on Monday to report on the progress of the 2011/12 AG report.

Muhumuza had told the lawmakers that a team of prosecutors was still reviewing the report and so far 97 government institutions and parastatals had been listed for probe.

The 2011/2012 Auditor-General’s report unearthed many cases of misuse of government funds including Rwf850 million that was categorised as wasteful expenditure. Out of that amount, Rwf22.8 million was said to have been directly embezzled.