Ndagijimana yesterday presented the Budget Framework Paper and the midterm budget estimates to Parliament, outlining Government’s economic policies over the medium term that help lay the foundations of the next fiscal budget.
Under the next fiscal year, according to Ndagijimana, government will continue to promote import substitution and diversify exports with the aim of reducing the exposure to external shocks and imbalances over the medium term.
“The implementation of Made in Rwanda policy will continue to play a key role in narrowing the current account deficit in the short to long run and help to consolidate private sector domestic activities, create jobs and boost economic growth,” he said.
Domestic revenues, both tax and non-tax are projected at Rwf1508.7 billion representing 62% of the total 2018/19 budget.
Under the next year budget, the external grants are estimated at Rwf396.3 billion equivalent to 16% of total budget while external loans are projected at Rwf400.9 billion representing 16% of total budget.
Domestic loans are projected at Rwf137.7 billion representing 6% of total budget. On the expenditure front, the recurrent budget is projected at Rwf1,305.7 billion.
Development expenditure is estimated at Rwf897.1 billion while net lending is projected at Rwf190 billion which will be used to finance key government projects such as construction of Bugesera airport, expansion of Rwandair operations among others.
In February, Refugees in Kiziba demonstrated, some marching out of the camp and camped at UNHCR offices in Karongi protesting over reduced food rations.
According to Police, the protests turned violent and left five dead and others including police officers injured.
According to MIDIMAR, preliminary findings about the cause of the protests have established that a core issue was the refugees’ executive committee, which was established to help in the management of the camp, but instead mobilized them to protest.
“The committee has been mobilising refugees to revolt against government officials and partner institutions, denying them access to the camp, and causing disorder among the refugees, thereby rendering the camp and its surroundings unsafe,” reads MIDIMAR statement issued on Monday.
The statement says that MIDIMAR has, pursuant to Ministerial instructions N0 0I/2017 of 3 November 2017 on conduct of elections in refugee settings, decided to dissolve the refugees’ executive committee with immediate effect, as one of the measures to restore law and order in the camp and its surroundings.
The Ministry has also directed that violent, unruly and provocative conduct in the camp is unlawful and must stop immediately to restore peace, law and order, as well as allow for dialogue to resolve any existing or emerging challenges.
MIDIMAR said that the Government of Rwanda is duty bound to provide safety to all Rwandans and refugees the country hosts.
The Ministry called on all refugees to cooperate in restoring normalcy in the camp, and noted that any person attempting to interfere with the process will be in violation of the law and will be held to account.
MIDIMAR said that the Government of Rwanda will continue to work with various partners, including UN agencies, to improve the well-being and protection of all refugees living in Rwanda.
Presenting the report to both chambers of the Parliament today, Auditor General, Obadiah Biraro said that 50% of the 165 public entities and projects considered in the financial and performance audits received unqualified audit opinion and urged lawmakers on holding accountable everyone misusing the public funds.
Among the 165, there were 139 budget agencies and projects representing 86.4% of the reported Government Expenditure of Rwf2,200,199,963,530 for the year ended June 30, 2017, compared to 85% for the year ended June 30, 2016.
Overall, the level of wasteful expenditure resulting from diversion of public resources and unsupported transactions has reduced from Rwf17,634,265,933 in the previous report which had considered 139 public entities and projects with 85% of the reported government expenditure in the year ended June 30, 2016.
Biraro said, however, that the cases of unsupported, wasteful and unauthorized expenditure and fraudulent transactions in different public entities are still high and require urgent management attention.
The report indicates that 109 contracts worth Rwf206,817,279,066 were delayed while 27 contracts worth Rwf45,866,655,835 were abandoned. Idle assets worth Rwf22,320,539,989 in 147 cases were also revealed.
Citing an example of halted Kalisimbi project which aimed at enhancing electronic communications and broadcasting services, Biraro said the idle drilling materials at Kalisimbi site including water tanks and pipes should be sold out to recover some funds out of the Rwf2.7 billion that was already invested in the project.
He said 13 institutions have recurrently appeared in the reports as the poorest managers of the public funds with Water and Sanitation Authority (WASAC) leading the row.
{{WASAC again!}}
With only 59% of water generation billed in 2016/2017, WASAC registered a whopping Rwf20 billion loss and kept equipment stock worth Rwf1.9 billion while the expenditure was also poorly accounted for, according to Auditor General Biraro.
“WASAC has poor financial statements and we failed to give our opinion. They are poorly performing. The management of WASAC should change. This institution should work as a government business enterprise as it is mandated,” he said.
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Citing Gishoma Peat Plant worth Rwf40.5 billion but produced power for only four months and stopped, Biraro also slammed Rwanda Energy Group for having five out of 33 power plants which lie idle, only six plants produce above 50% while other 22 produce below 50% of the initially planned capacity.
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The report pins Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) on failure to recover Rwf3.5 billion lost in VAT fraud with a minimal follow up standing at 13% only despite the use of Electronic Billing Machines (EBM), the technology that Biraro says hugely cost the country.
RRA was also slammed for lack of bank reconciliation with Rwf84.5 billion found on different six suspense accounts.
Rwanda Agricultural Board wrecked Rwf90 million in losses resulting from 225 tonnes of seeds of maize which perished in stores while farmers are always decrying insufficient seeds.
Rwanda Bio-Medical Centre was touted for improvements in the public funds management but also slammed for delaying delivery of over Rwf3 billion to hospitals for 240 days, causing poor health services.
Other institutions found with poor accountability include Rwanda Social Security Fund (RSSB), Rwanda Education Board (REB), Rwanda Transport Development Authority (RTDA), University of Rwanda and Workforce Development Authority (WDA), among others.
{{Lawmakers on tougher penalties}}
In their reaction on the report that was approved by a Bicameral House, lawmakers touted the Office of the Auditor General for the insightful report and vowed to push for tougher penalties against those who embezzle the public funds.
MP Athanasie Nyiragwaneza said “There is need for tougher measures to punish those involved in these cases of public funds mismanagement and to curb the future losses.
Théoneste Begumisa Safari urged the justice sector to be more serious with crimes related to public funds mismanagement, saying that it is sad to see embezzlement suspects unclearly released or even given so trivial penalties when they are convicted.
Théobald Mporanyi suggested a harsher scrutiny of the proposals from public entities which appear in the Parliament every year to seek budget, saying that they should first be asked to account for the previous budget before receiving another one.
“This is the 10th report I have heard of since I got in Parliament. Rwanda has done a lot in the last 24 years but what is really failing us in public funds management? The Parliament should adopt measures whereby we deny budget to an institution until it justifies how it spent the previous budget,” he said.
Auditor General Biraro reminded legislators to do their best for the recovery of the public funds fraudulently spent because “If there is no cost of failure, there is no fear of failure.”
Kagabo says in sharp contrast to his father who committed genocide, Kagabo who was 15 years old in 1994, then working as a house-help, saved lives.
Kagabo’s father, Yuri Baritima was a local government leader at the time of the genocide which he perpetuated, found guilty on trial and is serving life in prison.
At the time of the genocide, Kagabo was a caretaker at a house that belonged to a man who rarely came by, spending much of the time at his second home.
In the compound was an excavation which Kagabo used to hide twelve people who were being hunted.
The garbage pit had ample space for all the twelve which he covered on top, taking them meals from there on a daily basis.
Later on, Kagabo took eleven of them to another place and remained with one woman, Donathille Murekatete whom they fled together to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
According to Kagabo, he did all the best to save innocent lives.
“I was very young but had no room for hate as my father was. I had to protect those who were being hunted at the same time being vigilant so that my father who was a leader in local government would not guess that I was protecting people or guess that I did not agree with his mission,” he explains.
Murekatete, one of survivors who were saved by Kagabo thanks him for the outstanding activity.
“Kagabo saved me and my family, he protected us and we were in a place where killers used to cross, but could not guess that we were in,” she says.
Speciose Mukarurangwa, who survived in the region and the president of IBUKA in Gisenyi Sector requested to list Kagabo among pact protectors.
“Based on his activities, I think that he would be listed on the list of pact protectors. It was not such easy because he was a child who would have obeyed his father, but did the contrary and saved people,” she says.
Kagabo is now married to a survivor woman. They live in Gisenyi.
On Sunday, all twelve people who were saved by Kagabo visited and promised him a gift as a pact between them.
Kagame was speaking yesterday in Congo Brazzaville in the Heads of State and Government Summit on the operationalization of the Congo Basin Climate Commission and the Blue Fund for the Congo Basin.
The Congo Basin Climate Commission and the Congo Basin Blue Fund was established following the signing of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change two years ago.
Kagame said that the Paris Agreement was a remarkable demonstration of global commitment to building a more sustainable future.
The Head of State said that while efforts continue to reach universal ratification and translate the Agreement into action, global warming continues to adversely and disproportionately affect many countries.
“The prosperity we seek for our continent requires that we go the extra step to mitigate climate change and develop our economies more sustainably,” he said.
He said that there is no better reason to support, and actively participate in the Congo Basin Climate Commission and the Blue Fund for the Congo Basin.
Kagame said that Preserving the waters and forests of the Congo Basin is essential for sustainable development not only in Africa but other parts of the world as well.
“The water resources of the Congo Basin connect our countries and support the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people. This makes us interdependent on many levels,” he said.
“We must therefore cooperate more in managing these shared resources, in order to safeguard food security, public health and economic opportunities. These are critical factors in achieving both the Sustainable Development Goals and Africa’s Agenda 2063,” he urged the Heads of States.
Given what is at stake, Kagame said that the benefits envisioned in the Congo Basin cooperation initiative far outweigh the costs of setting up the fund.
“Let’s not waste any more time, in this important work but to unlock Africa’s full socio-economic potential,” he urged.
At the summit, the Heads of States also signed the protocol establishing the Congo Basin Climate Commission.
Visually impaired Cyriaque Sibomana, who lives in Nkumbure Cell of Tare Sector, told IGIHE last week that he is saddened by the delay to disburse loans whose 50% is a grant yet they dearly spent on projects preparation with the encouragement of Umurenge SACCO, a financial institution, through which the BDF loans are channeled.
“They invited us to prepare business projects which we submitted to SACCO towards the end of 2015. The year 2016 elapsed without their response. They came back in 2017 to select the best projects and disappeared again. It is now one year without giving us any update on the progress yet we spent a lot of money on the preparation of the projects,” said Sibomana whose project is among the selected for loans.
Francois Ruhashyampunzi, also visually impaired, shared similar concerns adding that he spent Rwf25,000 on preparing a project of selling sorghum which cost him and his family so heavily with the wife is blaming him on misusing the family resources.
“My project was selected among the 18 but the loans we applied for have not come for a year since the selection and about three years from the projects submission. Our SACCO leader tells us that they sent our projects to BDF branch which also sent them to their head office in Kigali. We were allowed loans amounting to Rwf300,000 of which 50% would be a grant,” he said.
“That Rwf25,000 we spent on the project’s preparation would have supported our child who is doing secondary school,” lamented Ruhashyampunzi.
{{BDF unaware, advises
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Livingstone Nkuusi, the BDF branches coordinator, said on Friday that he is unaware of that problem because BDF does not deal directly with beneficiaries.
“We deal with SACCOs’ refinancing, not beneficiaries. We have a product of the people with disabilities but it is SACCO which applies for loans on their behalf. When SACCO does that application, it doesn’t take long for beneficiaries to access loans. Maybe, their SACCO has not yet submitted in the application because we usually wait for SACCO’s application which we examine; if it meets the requirements, then we release the funds. We do not receive loan project proposals from beneficiaries,” he said.
Mr. Nkuusi added that SACCO might have not submitted the projects or they were rejected and advised expected beneficiaries to visit BDF branch in Nyamagabe for clarification on what happened to their projects.
BDF has a SACCO Refinancing Fund, among other products, which is designed to increasing SACCOs’ lending capacity to many people for poverty alleviation. The product started in the six poorest districts of Nyaruguru, Nyamasheke, Nyamagabe, Ruhango, Gisagara and Karongi but it is currently open to all Saccos in the country.
BDF statistics indicate that the product has so far benefited 26,620 people countrywide with the financing amounting to over Rwf150.4 billion
The office was opened yesterday in a cultural dinner that was hosted by Speaker of parliament, Donatille Mukabalisa.
Speaking at the event, Salvana Koch_Mehrin, the Founder and the President of the Women Political Leaders Global Forum said that they decided to open their offices in Rwanda because the country has advanced in programmes that promote women.
“The reason for choosing Rwanda is obvious; when you speak about women in politics, it has many women in parliament and other senior government positions. Women are also seen in other positions. Rwanda is a good example for Africa and the world to learn from,” she explained.
“In Rwanda 64% of the members of Parliament are women and so it’s the perfect place to base the WPL Office. Let’s work hard, dream big and support more women in politics to advance society” she added.
The office will coordinate all network’s activities in Africa.
Speaker Mukabalisa hailed the organization for opening the office in Rwanda.
“Your presence here means a lot to the relations of our countries and institutions we represent. I thank WPL for choosing to open Africa Office in Rwanda. We are pleased by your commitment in making governments understand the role and job of women in governance and politics,” she said.
“Rwanda is honoured and humbled to host the WPL office and is committed to make the initiative the success it can and should be. Let’s keep finding creative ways to accelerate equality for women everywhere,” she said.
The Women Political Leaders Global Forum is a global network of female politicians with a mission of increasing both the number and the influence of women in political leadership positions with headquarters in Reykjavik, Iceland.
The Office of the President has announced that Kagame is expected to deliver remarks at the opening ceremony of the Summit.
The Summit was organized under the auspices of Republic of Congo Brazaville, Denis Sassou NGuesso who is also current President of the Congo Basin Commission.
Also at the attendance of the summit include different Heads of States and Morocco King, Mohammed VI.
At the Summit, the Heads of State of the Basin Commission and its main funding instrument, the Blue Fund, will seek mechanisms in line with the spirit of the Marrakech Declaration to take action.
Kagame was speaking yesterday in a one-on-one conversation with Mo Ibrahim on ‘Public services in 21st century Africa’.
The conversation was held during the last session after a full day of panel discussions focused on public services, good governance and effective leadership in Africa that took place under the three day Ibrahim Governance Weekend that has been taking place in Kigali.
The conversation with Mo Ibrahim revolved around different topics including Kagame’s plans on post-presidency, African Union Commission, Africa’s Continental Free Trade Area, Corruption in Africa and the International Criminal Court among others.
Speaking about African Union (AU) reforms, Kagame said that it’s all about changing mindsets, efficiency and how they do things.
“It is also about financing because the source matters. It’s not proper that we do not fund our own budget, because we can. If it’s somebody else funding, then you do their bidding,” he said.
On AU funding formula of 0.2% levy on eligible imports, Kagame said that 25 countries are already implementing and many more are willing. He said the formula is predictable and has automaticity around it. He added that those who haven’t understood are free to engage in a conversation about it.
Speaking about Africa’s Continental Free Trade Area, the Head of State said that it is part of the AU reforms, which comes out of realisation of need. He said that he is optimistic about the trade agreement.
“That 44 countries have seen the significance and some have even ratified it. It is encouraging. I am very optimistic about the trade agreement,” he noted.
Also in the conversation, Kagame was asked about the International Criminal Court, and said that initially it was supposed to cover the whole world but ended up covering only Africa. He said that Africans are being tried on the crimes committed with people from elsewhere.
“Right from its inception I said that the Court would be trying Africans. It’s not bad to try crimes, people have to be accountable. But the concern is in the process and whether justice would be seen to be served,” he said.
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Speaking on future plans, Kagame said that he has many things planned.
“I will try to be supportive to my successor so that they can take Rwanda further. I always fall back on my family for comfort, I want some time to myself, and have always wanted to go back to school,” he said.
Speaking about AU fight against corruption, Kagame who is also the Chairperson of the union said that they have to insist on accountability and punish the offenders.
“I happen to find slogans useful but we need to urgently move beyond this. What we have to do is to insist on accountability and punish offenders. Corruption is not limited to Africa,” he said.
On the future of Rwanda, the Head of State said that he wants the country developed ten times from where it is today.
“Looking back at where we were and where we are now, we would like to be ten times better going forward,” he said.
The Ibrahim Governance Weekend is a three-day event that convenes political and business leaders, representatives from civil society, multilateral and regional institutions as well as Africa’s major international partners to debate issues of critical importance to Africa.
The new move will go in place starting from Monday 30th where students preparing to sit for 2018 national examinations will start to register for exams.
The process will be facilitated by school head teachers, Sector Education Officers and Director of Education in Districts as well as Irembo officials.
Speaking to IGIHE, the State Minister for Primary and Secondary Education in the Ministry of Education, Dr. Isaac Munyakazi said that the service comes to fast-track the registration process and ICT promotion.
“First of all is to fast-track the process by using ICT, it facilitates us in coordinating numbers which are needed during examinations. We also need to reduce using of papers as ICT helps us keeping the records properly,” he said.
He said that they will not face internet issues as the process will be facilitated by school head teachers and sector education officers who have internet and computers.
“Head teacher have been trained. No need for students to go and seek machine to register themselves, it will be done at their respective schools,” Munyakazi explained.
The Rwanda Education Board (REB) Deputy Director General, Angelique Tusiime explained that Irembo staffs at districts will facilitate head teachers.
She explained that it will reduce the workload as previously, the registration that was being done on hard copies used to reach in REB and re-register them in computers which sometimes resulted in some mistakes like misspelling of candidates’ names.
National examination registration is the 86th service taken online after different services like land title transfers, registration for driving licenses, and official document application among others.
