Parliament late last week resolved to summon four ministers to provide verbal explanations on varying recurrent issues that have been affecting the performance of their affiliate institutions and agencies. The summons which was channelled through the Office of Prime Minister, are in line with the parliamentary oversight mandate and they are largely based on the Auditor General’s report for 2018/2019. The four ministers that have been summoned are; Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Minister of Education, Minister of Infrastructure, and the Minister of Justice and below is the breakdown of each ministry and reasons they have been summoned. Finance The Minister of Finance will appear before the plenary sitting of the Lower House to explain persistent issues identified in the Rwanda Social Security Board (RSSB)’s accounting and investments. The Auditor-General, in his report, expressed concern over underperforming equity investments, which do not bring a direct return in form of dividend or capital gain to RSSB. The report indicated that the loss of value of invested funds is increasing. In eight companies where the pension body has invested, the loss increased from Rwf19 billion in 2017 to Rwf28 billion in 2018 due to their poor financial performance. The report also noted that the social security contribution assessments identified cases of employers who did not contribute to the national pension scheme. The audit identified pension contribution arrears amounting to Rwf17.9 billion as of 30 October 2019. These have been outstanding for a period ranging from one to three years. This problem impacts negatively on the fund’s financial viability as it is deprived of expected funding through contributions, the AG opined. The finance minister will also respond to issues identified in the governance and operations of the Rwanda Printing Company (RPC) which made it unable to achieve the objectives for which it was established. The issues identified by the AG’s report include lack of approved mandate which sets RPC’s strategic direction. It said that RPC operates under a strategic plan approved by the Board of Directors. However, there was no mandate approved by the government. Therefore, the report observed, the whole spectrum of RPC corporate governance lacks strategic direction, which could partly be responsible for the dismal performance of RPC. For example, the report showed, there was unsupported expenditure amounting to Rwf3.5 billion; and total procurement to the tune of Rwf1.2 billion was conducted outside the E-procurement system. Also, the report noted that RPC Ltd operates below its production capacity, and there was concern that its business was declining. Since 2016, the clients reduced from 29 to just eight in 2019 due to poor marketing strategy to boost revenue, according to the audit. Education The Parliament will summon the Minister of Education to explain issues related to finance management, and the Integrated Education Business Management Information System (IEBMIS) that have been faced by the University of Rwanda for long. IEBMIS is an integrated system acquired to automate University of Rwanda core processes. These processes include registrar, financial and human resources management. The Audit found that the system is not used to its full capacity and is not serving the intended purpose while UR continues to invest money to service it. The audit noted that three out of 14 modules of IEBMIS equivalent to 21.4 percent are partially utilized while 11 modules equivalent to 78.6 percent have never been put to use. The accumulated amount spent on IEBMIS as per available documentation was over Rwf2.3 billion. Among other irregularities, the AG’s assessment found that UR made wasteful expenditure associated with the acquisition of students’ hostels at UR’s Huye Campus, including VAT paid on exempted item. The law of November 9, 2012 establishing value-added tax exempts the sale of whole or part of building meant for residential purpose (accommodation) from value-added tax. However, UR paid VAT amounting to more than Rwf1.1 billion on the purchase of students’ hostels at UR’s Huye Campus. Infrastructure Parliament wants the Minister of Infrastructure to appear before it to provide verbal explanations on these issues that were identified in parastatals affiliated to it, especially the utility bodies. In the Water and Sanitation Corporation (WASAC), the issues are related to the governance, operations, finance management as well as idle assets. Lawmakers said that WASAC has had abysmal performance over the last five financial years from 2014/2015 to 2018/2019, which made it receive a disclaimer audit opinion by the AG. In Rwanda Energy Group (REG), the parliamentarians cited public asset mismanagement cases which made it impossible for it to be audited for the fiscal year 2017/2018 and 2018/2019. Justice The Minister for Justice will give verbal explanations for long-standing issues related to leaders and public servants who make the Government incur losses [by dragging it into court cases] when they take decisions that are in contravention of the set laws.
