KIMIHURURA - About Frw5.3 billion of state finances were unaccounted for during the fiscal year 2006.

This was revealed by the Auditor General, Evelyn Kamagaju while presenting her report to a joint session of Senators and Deputies yesterday at the parliamentary buildings.

"We cannot ascertain whether this money was put to good use because there were no supporting documents and financial statements to back up the expenditures," she told the lawmakers.

Kamagaju said that awarding of tenders worth Frw3.8 billion were not sanctioned by the National Tender Board, while other tenders worth 7.85 billion had no justifications for being awarded by Internal Tender Committees (ITCs).

She attributed the flouts to shortage of human resources in several institutions that leads to the lack of the required five people who make up an ITC.

"For instance, embassies abroad have very few people on the ground far less than the five people required," she said.

The Auditor General said that the shortage of human resources in several government institutions has led to embezzlement. She cited an example of PAFOR (a forest conservation project in the ministry of agriculture) where Frw77 million was embezzled by the accountant.

Other institutions where money was embezzled because of these flaws include the Students Financing Agency for Rwanda (SFAR) where Frw96 million was stolen and the University Hospital of Kigali (CHU/K).

"We found an extraordinary case at SFAR because the accountant who stole the money deposited Frw20million of it on the account of the Director General," said Kamagaju.

In the 2005 auditor general’s report, at least Frw3.6 billion could not be accounted for.

Meanwhile, Kamagaju said that they had started the exercise of performance auditing where they began with the health sector.

During the presentation, she said that they tackled health centres and district hospitals where they found a majority of them lacking medical equipment and experienced medical staff.

According to the report, the quality of health care in general was very poor especially in rural areas.

This was manifested by the traditional midwives who use razor blades in assisting mothers to deliver. The report further indicates that out of 100,000 mothers, 750 die in labour.

She attributed the shortcomings to inefficiencies in human resources. She however said that there had been an improvement as compared to earlier reports which put the toll at over 1000 deaths.

Kamagaju will today re-appear before the joint session to answer queries raised by lawmakers on the report.

Ends