Gov’t spent millions on non-existent staff

KIGALI - The government is spending millions of Francs paying salaries of non-existent employees months after they have resigned, dismissed or died, the parliament heard this week. While presenting the Auditor General’s report this week, the Deputy Auditor General, Obadiah Biraro, told members of both chambers of parliament that there were instances where employees were paid salaries even after their contracts had been terminated or had resigned. “Examples are cases at the Supreme Court and the Prosecutor General’s Office where four former staff in both institutions were paid Rfw2.6 million after their resignation, “he said. “Government therefore lost funds in payment,”MIFOTRA attributed this to delays in the submission of the deletion request cards. “Efforts should be made to ensure that the deletion cards are submitted on time to enable timely and accurate modification of employee details in both the master and payroll files on the systems,” the AG recommended.The report also indicates an extra Rwf 7.6 million that the Senate paid even after the late Senator Elie Mpayimana had passed away in November 2008. “Rfw 7.6 million was spent as overpayment of salary for the deceased Senator. His family received this in excess to funeral expenses,” the report says The report says that public entities incurred wasteful expenditure amounting to Rfw 201 million in 2008 and 137 million in 2007 that could have been avoided had they complied with laws, regulations and procedures in force. The report gave an example of the Rural Sector Support Project (RSSP) whose physical verification revealed that some infrastructure constructed under sub projects financed by RSSP have been used for activities separate from those specified in the contracts. “An example is in Nyabihu district where RSSP paid Rfw 45 million for the construction of Vunga market. However, the market’s offices were turned into the office of the Executive Secretary of the area cell,” he said. The report will now go to the respective Commissions in both chambers of parliament where it will be discussed. According to the Speaker of Parliament, Rose Mukantabana, while the law grants the Commissions a period of six months to review the report and give recommendations, there was need to work zealously to deliver sooner. Ends

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Gov’t spent millions on non-existent staff