Education officials explain loss of construction materials

Gross irregularities in the management of materials meant for the construction of classrooms for the Nine-Year Basic Education were questioned by lawmakers as officials from the Ministry of Education appeared before parliament on Friday.MPs on the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) raised concerns over lack of proper control systems, a fact that, at one point resulted in the possible “misappropriation” of 346 bags of cement worth Rwf2, 768, 000 as highlighted in the report by the Auditor General for the year ending June 30, 2011.Initial explanation by Warren Habimana, who was the coordinator of school construction at the time of the suspected fraud, were found wanting, despite his assertions that one of the culprits had since been imprisoned.MP Juvénal Nkusi, PAC chairperson, asked Habimana to reveal the value of cement recovered. The latter said that only some was recovered.Upon further probing by the PAC chair, he opened up saying that they were doing reconciliation. “It (reconciliation) has been underway for over a year. The lost bags, which are about 10,000, were indicated in the case we filed with the Prosecution. They were lost towards the end of 2010.”MP Marie Claire Ingabire warned that the AG report was flawless, citing Habimana’s often contradictory statements on delivery of cement. “We must see government money recovered. We will not just leave it at that.”Lawmakers faulted the official’s over reliance on reports from field engineers and failing to put in place a monitoring mechanism. MP Françoise Uwamariya said she was surprised that Habimana made no mention of store keepers.System weaknesses In the period from July 2010 to February 2011, the Ministry of Education purchased a total 345,063 bags of cement from local cement manufacturer, Cimerwa, for distribution to districts, to facilitate the construction of classrooms for the 9-Year Basic Education Programme. Some bags were directly delivered to districts and others to transit warehouses controlled by the ministry. Upon delivery, district store keepers were supposed to sign on the goods received note to acknowledge delivery by the transporter.However, during the Friday session MPs noted that the Auditor General revealed weaknesses, for example, in the transportation of cement from Cimerwa to the Kicukiro-based warehouses where 376 bags were damaged.The transporter, ELECTRO MECA, later, replaced them and the storekeeper [Bonnie Mbabazi] reportedly received them but these bags were not recorded on the stock card. Yet there was no evidence that 99 of the bags were issued to districts from the Kicukiro warehouse.Another case involved 247 bags of cement that were acknowledged as having been received but not recorded on stock cards.PAC members also questioned the Ministry officials on several other malpractices including irregular expenditure, un-reconciled differences between balances on donors’ confirmation and the balances recorded in the financial statements, and transfers from Umwalimu Sacco that were not fully supported and without guidelines for use.PAC members say that not all the funds are embezzled, but insist on proper procedures and practices being followed to avoid room for misappropriation.In the past week, officials from several public institutions appeared before the committee. More are expect to continue appearing this week.

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Education officials explain loss of construction materials