200 civil servants to be reprimanded

Up to 209 public servants face possible charges and dismissal after being shortlisted by the Prime Minister’s Office for alleged mismanagement and misappropriation of government funds.The move was disclosed by the Director of Cabinet in the Prime Minister’s Office, Eugene Barikana, during a meeting that brought together district budget officers, executive secretaries, directors of finance and other officials in charge of finance in government institutions.The list of the officials was forwarded by the National Public Prosecution Authority (NPPA) to the Prime Minister’s Office mid July.The implicated officials were named in the 2010/2011 Auditor General’s report, which pointed at gross mismanagement and recurrent embezzlement, malpractices and mistakes, with unsupported expenditures totalling Rwf 5.9 billion.“They will face administrative penalties for the losses they caused government. We are working with the Ministry of Public Service and Labour to come up with befitting punitive measures to discourage the practice,” Barikana said.He added that those sanctioned will be penalised by the institutions they serve and punishments will be meted in two phases: Some will have their remuneration slashed while others will serve a three month suspension, demotions or outright dismissal, according to Barikana.Speaking at the meeting, the Auditor General, Obadiah R. Biraro, disclosed that embezzlement cases were increasing in districts, citing forging of signatures.“You find an accountant at a district forging a signature of the Executive Secretary and Director of Finance to swindle public funds,” Biraro said.He called on district budget officers to develop possible ways of coming up with clean audits.It was indicated that of 117 public institutions audited, only 14 had clean audit reports. Another 102 are still under scrutiny.Western Province was also recognised for its outstanding performance in leading the rest in presenting clean audit reports whereas Gasabo, Nyarugenge and Kicukiro districts were the most implicated in illegal awarding of tenders, resulting into a total loss of Rwf 722 million.