PAC meets with Finance ministry on Auditor General’s report.

Financial critics have lauded the fact that the Finance minister and officials from the judiciary can appear before PAC to spell out strategies and measures under their sleeves to fight graft and penalizing individuals implicated in mismanagement of state funds. This was due to a meeting in which members of Rwanda’s parliamentary Public accounts committee PAC met with officials from the Finance ministry including Finance Minister Ambassador Claver Gatete as a follow up on last year where the committee, summoned a number of heads of public institutions and grilled them over mismanagement of state funds as indicated in the auditor general’s reports. PAC members said the follow up is aimed at preventing and minimizing financial management errors and graft related cases. The chairperson of the committee, Juvenal Nkusi said the exercise is done in public interest. “Meeting with the finance minister,” he said “is in a sense of trying to look into ways of implementing recommendations made to the institutions that appeared before PAC so as to reduce poor management of state funds.” Minister Gatete meeting with PAC officials said that his ministry is restructuring the financial management policy that will see more efforts directed to demanding properly drafted action plans of public institutions. Some institution’s expenditure however surpassed the amount of money initially indicated in the action plans according to minister Gatete. “Well drafted plan of action normally minimizes excess funds--save for emergency expenditures.” He pointed out “We are trying to rectify some financial errors by encouraging public institutions to draw a sound action plan concept paper before the final budget is approved.” PAC members said the summoning and subsequent questioning of Public officials over poor financial management should be no cause for alarm as it shows the political will to deal with graft and to safeguard public funds.