MPs receive fuel probe report with skepticism

KIGALI - A parliamentary inquiry into allegations of irregularities in the management of public fuel may have fallen short of pinpointing at possible culprits, but the majority of MPs yesterday made it clear that many questions remain unanswered. Releasing their report during a Chamber of Deputies plenary last evening, a seven-member ad hoc commission led by Juvenal Nkusi, absolved Government officials of any malpractices even though they acknowledged that some deals, including a 2006 mega fuel deal, were conducted in breach of the law. “What I can assure you is that there were no cases of embezzlement apart from recklessness on the part of some officials,” Nkusi announced, after four of the commission’s members had read out the team’s findings and recommendations. On the whole, most MPs accepted the report but did not hide their reservations. “Whereas we tend to believe what you have told us, it is difficult to imagine how misappropriation may not have taken place in the event that there is a certain amount of money from donors that was never put into consideration in the national budget, and therefore, whose accountability we cannot be certain about,” MP Alphonsine Mukarugema said. She was referring particularly to proceeds obtained from the sale of fuel stocks donated to Rwanda by the Japanese Government, which were never reflected in the national budgets despite the grant having been running for the last three years. The case was first raised by the Auditor General (AG), Evelyn Kamagaju in her 2006 report, a scenario she said saw up to Frw1.4 billion appearing nowhere in the records of the Secretary to the State Treasury. According to the report, officials in the Ministry of Finance explained that the exclusion of the Japanese grant from the mainstream state budget was due to the uncertainties that come with such grants, such as the exact timing of disbursement, and the real monetary value of such grants. Several MPs were concerned that money accruing from the sale of the Japanese fuel grant was not collected from debtors’ accounts until cheques worth Frw1.6 billion expired on the shelves of the Ministry of Commerce. The commission members said the delays to cash the cheques were generally occasioned by the fact that a special back account for the Japanese grant had not yet been created in the National Bank of Rwanda (BNR) . MP Julienne Kantengwa questioned the commission’s wisdom to conclude that the April 2006 agreement between the Ministry of Commerce and Dalbit Petroleum –a Kenyan oil firm – to supply millions of litres was “in the interest of the nation” and yet it contravened the law. “In view of the AG’s explanations on the fact that that agreement involved special prices, and considering that Dalbit was dealing with Rwanda for the first time, how do you take it upon yourself to announce that, ‘yes the decision did not follow the normal procurement channels, but it was taken in the interest of the nation’?” wondered Kantengwa. “The best we can do is to leave it as it is than qualifying it (as having been a legitimate process),” she concluded.On that particular case, former Commerce ministers Protais Mitali (now Minister for Youth) and James Musoni (now Finance Minister), explained to the probe team that the decision to bypass standard tendering procedures and handpick the Kenyan firm, came after local companies said they were unable to supply 10 million litres of fuel to curtail a foreseen fuel crisis. Around that time, the commission members said there was as little as 4 million litres of fuel left in the whole country – an amount that is too little considering that the nation consumes between 500,000 and 1 million litres of fuel a day. But some MPs insisted that even in such circumstances, the ministry should have referred the case to the National Tender Board (NTB), which they said could have used its powers to sanction an expedited procurement process. “Thank God there was no misappropriation,” MP Judith Kanakuze said sarcastically. MP Henriette Sebera Mukamurangwa said it was hard to believe that several ministers could have fallen into the same trap of “carelessness” as the commission insinuated. “You can understand when it is one person, but when it is one, two, then three, it becomes something else,” she said, adding that she hoped the new Commerce minister (Monica Nsanzabaganwa) would clean up the house “since the probe commission has already discussed with her these issues.” Many concerns also revolved around the operations of the country’s reservoirs for strategic fuel stocks, crisis management and the management of proceeds from public fuel sales. Twenty MPs had a chance to react to the report before Speaker Alfred Mukezamfura adjourned the debate. It continues today evening. Ends