The Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning is investigating its employee who represented it during the formulation of the recently released 2007 UNDP Human Development Report on Rwanda. Francois Sekamondo may face tough disciplinary measures should the inquiry proves that he intentionally fed the authors with inaccurate information about the country, or abandoned his duty of ensuring the ministry’s position is reflected in the annual report. The ministry’s Secretary General, John Rwangombwa, confirmed Sekamondo was under investigation and that he could face disciplinary action based on the findings. “As you know we were unhappy with what was in the report and (it is in that regard that) we are investigating Sekamondo’s carelessness because he was representing us,” Rwangombwa said. He said there was hitherto no hint to what could have made him fail to identify the inaccuracies in the report before it was launched. The report was launched in Kigali by Finance Minister James Musoni, who had also signed its Foreword. Musoni was also the chairman of the steering committee that oversaw the report’s formulation, while UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Representative to Rwanda, Moustapha Soumare, was the co-chair. Days after he launched the 107-page report dubbed ‘‘Turning Vision 2020 into Reality: From Recovery to Sustainable Human Development’, the Cabinet asked Musoni to refute it. The ministry did refute the report, but minister Musoni has come under intense criticism for disowning a report he signed and launched. The minister however said he signed the report while it was still in its draft form, and didn’t revisit it before launching it after it had been edited. “I signed the foreward of the report but at that time it was still a draft, which I had read and found no problem,” the minister admitted in an exclusive interview with this newspaper. However, while Sekamondo admits he was on the steering committee, he said he was not involved in the process to validate the report. “I was on the Steering Committee but I was not involved in the validation process. I think that is why our recommendations were not considered,” Sekamondo told The New Times on Monday. Meanwhile a source in the Finance ministry said Sekamondo had been served with a two-month suspension in connection with the UNDP report. However, The New Times could not independently verify the allegation but Sekamondo, Musoni and Rwangombwa all dismissed it. The UNDP itself said some of the contents in the report were not factual, and issued an addendum highlighting about 30 issues it said were misleading. Investigations into probable responsibility of the Finance ministry’s staff in the controversial report come after the government cut links with the report’s editor, Swede Sebastian Silva Leander, and Dr Herman Musahara, a lecturer at the National University of Rwanda (NUR), who also worked on the report. Minister Musoni accuses Leander of adding inaccurate interpretations after he (Musoni) had signed the report and Musahara of letting the betraying the government. Musoni however says that the figures used in the report were obtained from his ministry and were therefore factual. UNDP’s Soumare said the report was the work of its authors who he said were independent of the UN agency. He said the report “does not necessarily reflect the views of UNDP. It’s purely the responsibility of the authors.” Among the contested findings in the report are claims that poverty had increased in the country despite continued donor funding and there is exclusion of women from social and economic progress.Ends
