BUJUMBURA, May 31st (ABP) – The Minister for the Civil Service, Labour and Employment (MFPTE), Mr Vénuste Muyabaga, held a meeting on Wednesday 29 May 2024 with the human resources officers of the sectoral ministries, with a view to addressing the issue of civil servant mobility.
Minister Muyabaga said that those discussions were an opportunity to provide guidance on how to stop the theft of money from the public treasury as a result of certain people receiving the salaries of pensioners, people who have died or people who have been transferred elsewhere. According to him, when badly managed, that mobility of civil servants causes enormous losses to the State.
He added that 3 billion Burundi francs had been stolen, adding that 52 million of the 3 billion had been returned and paid into the public treasury account.
He noted that in order to avoid cases of theft, the MFPTE has set up a commission responsible for verifying the authenticity of salary calculations and for recovering all those amounts.
He also pointed out that the law provides for criminal penalties for anyone who fails to hand over the stolen money within 30 days to the commission set up for that purpose. After that period, they will be considered as thieves.
During the discussions, the speakers called for frank collaboration between the sectoral ministries, as well as capacity-building in terms of human resources. That will help to facilitate a number of tasks.
Minister Muyabaga asked that commission to be responsible in its mission, to report any other anomalies or cases of fraud noted in connection with the salaries of civil servants and to keep a close eye on the lists of civil servants so as not to pay those who are not working.