WASAC to face PAC as public hearings begin today

Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) will today begin public hearings that will see heads of institutions, projects, districts and ministries appear for public hearings for the next two weeks, to respond to queries raised in the Auditor General’s 2016/2017 report. Today, the Water and Sanitation Corporation (WASAC) will be received for the morning session while Gatsibo and Gasabo districts will follow in the afternoon session. The Chairperson of PAC, Juvenal Nkusi told The New Times in an exclusive interview on Friday that the hearings follow their own visits to the projects and institutions mentioned in the report to determine if any changes had been made since the release of the report. “The Auditor General presented his report to us at the end of April and we analysed it. We gave it six months and thereafter, we went to visit the projects to see if the mistakes had been corrected. We now have a clearer picture of what he said and we are summoning those who we found had not rectified any mistakes,” he said. Nkusi said that the aim of the hearings would be to get answers and to also find out who exactly should be held accountable. “Our aim is to find answers to these questions but most especially, to also know who exactly is responsible for such losses and why. We will be meeting heads of institutions, mayors, finance personnel, project managers, and in some instances, some contractors,” he said. In total, 12 district mayors and ten heads of institutions will appear before the lawmakers. Nkusi said that among their findings were some projects that were originally scheduled to be completed in three years but were still stalling years later, something that he said costs the government money and denies beneficiaries many opportunities. “There are some places where they were supposed to deliver water and electricity and the delays have cost the project making it stall because there is no money left,” he said. State attorneys and legal advisors are under pressure to recover about Rwf1 billion won in cases against those who stole, misused, or led to the abuse of public funds. Over the last five years, only half of the Rwf2 billion that the government has won in court cases has already recovered. To avoid some of these issues, Nkusi advised that project evaluations should be done thoroughly and by people who have expertise in project planning. “Studies must be done well. Some studies are not clear at all. Some do not provide a clear implementation plan. There is also lack of proper supervision. The supervisors are yet to understand that they are representing the government. They pay more attention to the contractors instead yet their role is to see to it that work is done as it’s supposed to be,” he said. Emphasising accountability The Deputy Chairperson of PAC; Theoneste Karenzi said that no stone shall be left unturned to bring anyone who is mentioned in the report to account. “The Auditor General’s report mentions more than 150 institutions but we cannot summon them all. We evaluated all of them and zeroed in on those that had more serious issues than the others. This however doesn’t mean that those that are not summoned are getting away with it. They are required to put their explanations in writing and those will form part of what will be included in our final report,” he said. The lawmakers also said that former heads of institutions who were at the helm when these projects were ongoing will be summoned for accountability reasons. The hearings will end on October 10 and a report with the hearing findings will be delivered to the Parliamentary Plenary at least by October 23. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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WASAC to face PAC as public hearings begin today