BUJUMBURA, October 12th (ABP) – The members of the lower house of parliament met on October 10, 2023, in a session of oral questions addressed to the Minister of the Environment, Agriculture and Livestock, on the audit report on the budgetary management capacity of the said ministry, carried out by the Court of Auditors for the period from 2019/2020 to 2022/2023.
According to the analysis report of the audit report, the budget forecasts of the Ministry of the Environment, Agriculture and Livestock do not take into account the state and conditions of budget execution as that the ministry does not have a structure responsible for management which would centralize budget forecasts and execution and this is a gap in the budget monitoring process.
In light of the analysis of the report, in terms of the management capacity of the development process, the standing committee on public accounts and finance, economic affairs and planning at the National Assembly noted that the said ministry does not have an updated medium-term expenditure framework, as the last one covers the period from 2015 to 2017. This is a handicap for the budget forecasting and monitoring process.
In terms of the capacity to execute expenditure and monitor budgetary and accounting information, with regard to the process of programming budget execution, the Court of Auditors noted that the said ministry does not carry out each quarter of commitment forecasts, procurement, liquidation covering the entire remaining period of the financial year; does not transmit to the controller of expenditure commitments an initial budgetary programming document providing for commitments and liquidations over the duration of the financial year.
Likewise, the Court noted that 215 vacant positions have not yet been replaced, which hampers the implementation of the activities of the ministry’s services.
In terms of the assessment of accounting, it was noted that the existing physical inventory dates from 2019.
For internal control capacity, the observation is that the ministry has a non-popularized procedures manual. It is also noted that the ministry does not have a code of ethics and professional conduct for personnel, a tool for risk assessment but also an internal audit framework, which hampers the effectiveness of the internal control carried out by the inspection service within the ministry.
Responding to the question of vacant positions that are not replaced on time, Minister Prosper Dodiko reported that the ministry plans to recruit 232 engineers and graduates and that authorization has been granted by the Government. He added that the ministry plans to replace the missing executives and technicians.
The MPs also wanted to know what the ministry plans to find a solution to the problem linked to seeds and fertilizers not available on time as the growing season advances. On this, the minister said that the ministry will set up a commission to conduct studies on seeds and fertilizers to avoid delays.
The first deputy speaker of the National Assembly, Mrs. Sabine Ntakarutimana, asked the minister to find solutions to all the questions asked to him, particularly those related to agriculture and livestock. The MPs also asked the said minister to closely monitor the projects implemented by partners via the ministry, so that they can contribute to the development of the population and the country.