Local gov’ts face financial constraints - report

A report compiled by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Budget and National Patrimony has revealed that the money allocated to local government agencies is not enough compared to the workload local leaders have. According to the report, districts spend about 80 percent of the funds allocated to them in paying salaries.It also states that Provinces and the City Council don’t have their own office buildings. “All provinces lack human resources due to lack of funds to pay the required professionals,” reads the report. It adds that money collected from property tax was allocated to respective districts, but Rwanda Revenue Authority continues to collect property tax from major organizations. The report also indicated that the distribution of block grants is inadequate since districts differ in expenditure depending on their location. “Districts were instructed to rent vehicles for their daily operations which made many of them incur massive losses that affected the operations of the district,” adds the report. The parliamentary committee that compiled the report also accused some ministries of imposing projects on districts yet there are no funds allocated for those projects. The committee also unearthed mismanagement of funds allocated from districts by the Common Development Fund (CDF) and discovered that sometimes there have been delays in releasing the money. Other issues highlighted in the report include massive debts. “The ministry should come up with a planning structure that involves districts so that the activities done at the local level have funds to maintain them,” reads the report. It also recommended that the government increase its funding to districts by 5.3% to increase their capacity. Ends