Parliament should take full responsibility of AG’s report

Editor, Rwanda is considered as a country that emphasizes accountability at all levels of governance. It is in this sense that the Auditor General’s Office was set up to expose any form of mismanagement of public funds. This has resulted into exposing leaders that are not accountable or incompetent in management of taxpayer’s money. However, there has since been sluggish follow up on some cases exposed by the whistleblower. This has resulted to continuously mismanagement of public funds. According to the law setting up the AG’s office, the office is supposed to table its annual report to the Parliament and send a copy to other relevant institutions. Although this has been done rightfully, the parliament has actually done less than expected in following up the setbacks in managing State funds that are exposed in the reports yet it is fully responsible. The parliament has only blamed and sometimes exposed more rot in the report but done less in ensuring that those implicated face wrath of law. As a way of dealing with issues highlighted in the reports, the Parliament should fast track the establishment of the Public Accounts Committee since it would be fully in charge of this business on a daily basis. Also, what is so shaming is that the previous seven reports from the Auditor General have directly pinned the parliament as one of the institutions that mismanage public funds but disappointingly, the Parliament has not stepped up to correct the errors. This should be on top of the parliamentary agenda before the next report is tabled. Ian Cyusa

Opinions

Parliament should take full responsibility of AG’s report