As part of its drive to curb abuse of public funds by officials at the decentralized structures, the Ministry of Local Government is training finance managers at district and provincial levels on proper ways of managing public resources.

Wenceslas Niyibizi the Director of the finance unit with local government ministry revealed that this training is part of their clean audit program which aims at equipping financial managers with a wide range of financial management skills.

"We intended to equip financial managers at these levels with skills such that common mistakes and hiccups in financial management can be curbed, it is a continuous process,” Niyibizi told The New Times.

The program which started with training of procurement officers and directors of finance of various districts has proceeded with equipping budget managers, internal auditors and accountants in contract management.

The reason for packaging different financial disciplines is to provide practitioners with a wide range of skills in the financial fraternity so that unnecessary lapses can be avoided.

According to the 2007 Auditor General’s report, over Rwf 6 billion was lost in unsupported expenditure by public entities, while more than Rwf 2 billion was lost in irregular expenditures.

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