KIMIHURURA - Former Speaker Juvenal Nkusi has been elected to lead a parliamentary inquiry into allegations of gross mismanagement of public strategic fuel reserves.

Nkusi, who is also the president of Lower House Standing Committee on Economic Affairs, will be deputized by MP Specioza Mukandutiye.

The motion to set up the seven-man ad hoc commission was pushed forward by the same standing committee after a 2006 Auditor General’s report showed that the Commerce and Industry ministry (Minicom) had no records of fuel reserves.

The investigation will look into cases such as credit sales of fuel in large quantities to local companies and businesspersons who take long to pay back, or issue bouncing cheques.

The probe team was given 15 working days to accomplish the task since some of the vital information was already available.

The Auditor General’s report, which was released on Monday, indicates that billions of francs could have been lost due to lack of follow-up on behalf of government officials.

In her report, AG Evelyn Kamagaju cited a case of a Japanese fuel grant to the Government – which was supposed to be sold and proceeds injected into development projects – which was never recorded in books of accounts by either Minicom or the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (Minecofin).

One such irresponsible case involved businessman Alex Rubayiza, who took fuel on loan amounting to Frw18,293,143, and issued a cheque which bounced on November 9, 2005, but still no official knew until the AG’s office brought it to Minicom’s knowledge during its audit in August, 2007.

Minicom officials say they do not know the whereabouts of Rubayiza, Kamagaju told the MPs, who subsequently decided to launch their own investigation into the case.

The report further indicated that SAKIRWA had not paid for 1450,000 litres of fuel by the time of the audit (August, 2007).

Another case involved 2140,000 litres of fuel which Minicom kept in Kobil storage facilities in 2007, but the ministry could not produce documents to that effect.

Kamagaju expressed fears that this particular fuel could have been embezzled.

The report generally accused the Commerce ministry of failing to properly keep track of fuel stock movements.

Other probe committee members are Gideon Kayinamura, Marie Josée Kankera, Faith Mukakalisa, Eduard Sebushumba and François Udahemuka. All the inquiry members belong to the economic affairs committee.

The team is charged with scrutinizing all issues related to the mismanagement of the country’s oil reserves.

Nkusi said that the commission would visit all public fuel reserves and pay special attention to the cases cited in the AG report.

"It is the taxpayers’ money that we are trying to save; this (mismanagement) should not continue and must be stopped immediately,"Nkusi said. "We are going to take on all those financial scandals."

MP Constance Rwaka Mukayuhi, who heads the chamber’s standing committee on state budget issues, said: "All this indicates mismanagement of public resources; we must take a leading role in fighting all these problems for the good of our country."

The legislators said they were concerned with all the irregularities revealed by the AG report, adding that they would study all the cases raised in the report.

After the plenary debate on Monday and Tuesday, the report was referred to the parliamentary budget standing committee for further scrutiny.

The report indicates that at least Frw5.3 billion was unaccounted for during the fiscal year 2006, while the audited institutions awarded tenders worth Frw3.8 billion without the approval of the National Tender Board (NTB).

It also shows that tenders valued at over Frw7.8 billion were sanctioned without proof - they were allegedly approved by internal tender committees.

Kamagaju said that a number of institutions lacked financial statements to justify their expenditures.

These revelations sparked a general sense among both senators and deputies that despite the AG’s persistent disclosures and the MPs’ own prior remedial recommendations, the problem remains far from being solved.

MPs observed that previous AG reports pointed at the same problems, concluding that the irregularities had just become repetitive.

The dominant case in all these reports is the practice of awarding tenders without the approval of either NTB or tender committees – depending on how big the tender is – which were established in almost all public institutions.

Other malpractices highlighted in the 2006 AG report are improper financial records, lack of coordination and mismanagement of public assets.

Previous AG reports indicated that about Frw4.4 billion and Frw3.6 billion was uncounted for in 2004 and 2005, respectively.

And with the figure having shot up in 2006, it is clear that cases of financial unaccountability are on the increase.

Ends