Rwanda Transport Development Agency (RTDA) has struggled to explain to the Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) how a contractor was overpaid more than Rwf340 million for road maintenance. This came up during PAC’s public hearings held on Saturday; September 18, 2021 while officials from RTDA were responding to public asset mismanagement cases that were exposed by the Auditor General (AG)’s 2019/2020 report of State Finances. According to the AG’s report, on April, 02, 2015, RTDA signed a three-year contract with ECOAT for maintenance works of Muhanga- Karongi (74 km) road in the south-western part of the country. On November 20, 2020 (almost 7 months after the expected final handover date), the audit team [from the AG’s Office] conducted a field visit to the site and noted different defects including that the entire road was extremely damaged. It is to note that, earlier, on April 06, 2020, a technical team composed of Rwanda Road Maintenance Fund (RMF), the Ministry of Infrastructure and RTDA visited works executed under the contract for three-year maintenance of the road, and identified that the contractor invoiced and got overpaid more than Rwf340 million for items invoiced twice or items that were not executed. Such amount in question includes expenses of Rwf213 million on double layer surface dressing, and Rwf57 million on base course from crushed gravel. The technical team recommended that the client should not declare the final handover before the contractor addresses all the identified issues. At the time of audit (October to December 2020), over Rwf2.8 billion was paid to the contractor and the performance guarantee expired on April 30, 2020, the audit found, The Auditor General’s opinion is that the overpaid amount represents irregular expenditure and misappropriation of public funds. MP Jeanne d’Arc Uwimanimpaye pinned RTDA officials for paying the contractor before verifying whether the works were performed in accordance with the contract terms, while the performance guarantee period had expired. “How can you make payment before verification, leading to Rwf340 million overpayment? she asked RTDA leaders. “The malpractices in this case of Muhanga-Karongi Road are a disappointment,” she said, suggesting those responsible should be held accountable. MP Anita Mutesi said that such operations are a derailment to the country’s development. “The road was damaged shortly after being maintained. Spending funds in such ways is wasting public resources,” she said, wondering how the country can have sustainable road projects. Explaining the reason for the issue, Imena Munyampenda, Director General of RTDA said that a contracted supervisor and an RTDA member of staff went on field and overvalued the works that were done by the contractor; an issue that he said was revealed by the verification team, after the contractor was paid. “Now, a legal action was taken against the people suspected in the case [in a bid to recover the overpaid amount],” he said, this involves four people including an RTDA worker. Among other recommendations, the AG said that the management of RTDA should carry out a deep investigation and engage other stakeholders in charge and ensure that the amount overpaid is recovered from the contractor as soon as possible.
