The Senate Chamber of the Parliament has approved the appointment of Alex Kamuhire as the new Auditor General and Nadine Gatsinzi Umutoni as the Director-General of the National Child Development Agency (NCD).

Appointed during the recent cabinet meeting that convened on October 13, the two officials were vetted on Tuesday, October 19.

Shedding light on why Kamuhire should be approved, Juvenal Nkusi, the president of the Standing Committee for Economic Development and Finance said that the 44-year-old has wide experience in the financial sector and particularly in auditing state finances.

"He ventured into the auditing domain 18 years ago, so after analysing his profile, we realized he has the needed skills, competencies, experiences and will to accomplish the duties he had been given as the Auditor General of State Finances,” he said, asking the Upper Chamber to approve the request.

Prior to his appointment, Kamuhire was the Government Chief Internal Auditor in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning for the last six years.

In his role, he also provided internal audit services to the Central Bank, local government entities and public enterprises as well.

Before his appointment as the Office of the Chief Internal Auditor, Kamuhire worked as a Financial Management Specialist in the office of the Auditor-General.

He also worked as an Internal Auditor in the Ministry of Agriculture and he is among the first auditors in the office of the Auditor General since its establishment in 2003.

Kamuhire is taking over from Obadiah Biraro who had served in the position for ten years.

NCD boss 

The upper chamber of parliament also approved the appointment of Nadine Gatsinzi Umutoni as the new Director-General of the National Child Development Agency (NCD).

The chamber approved the candidate after hailing the report commissioned by the Standing Committee on Social Affairs and Human Rights on her milestones.

Adrie Umuhire, the president of the committee attributed the basis of approving her, not only on her experience but also on her ambitions.

"She vowed to crack down on gender-based violence among children, and establish more early childhood development centres near parents’ workplaces,” commented Umuhire.

Her ambitions were also hailed by Senator Pelagie Uwera, who said that tackling social issues affecting children will start from education.

"I have also appreciated how she plans to teach children to shun away from immorality behaviours, which is one of the issues leading to increased teenage pregnancies,” she noted.

Gatsinzi was previously serving as the Kigali city vice mayor in charge of socio-economic affairs.

Prior to that, she also served as the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion for three years and also worked as the Director-General in charge of research at Rwanda Governance Board.

She takes over from Dr Anita Asiimwe who was dropped from the position in July 2021.