COUNTRY LEARNING NOTES Rwanda: legal and institutional frameworks for public finance management Bruno Versailles April 2012 SUMMARY Rwanda has instituted a comprehensive and modern legal framework for public finance management through the adoption of the 2003 constitution and the 2006 Organic Budget Law. The main institutions responsible for the budget are Parliament, Cabinet, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and the Office of the Auditor General. Institutional reorganisations have sought to strengthen the quality of external oversight and procurement, as well as the quality of budget preparation. This note deals with the legal and institutional framework for Public Financial Management (PFM) in Rwanda. The note contains analysis of the main legal documents such as the Constitution, the Organic Budget Law and discusses the PFM regulatory framework. It then goes on to describe the roles of the major PFM institutions in Rwanda: Parliament, the Cabinet, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MINECOFIN) and the Office of the Auditor General. The content of this note forms the background for all discussions on PFM in Rwanda. As such it complements the Country Learning Notes that go into more detail on specific PFM issues like Rwanda: budgeting and planning processes and Rwanda: integration of the national budget. For an up to date overview of PFM reforms in Rwanda, see MINECOFIN (2011c). CONSTITUTION The Rwandan Constitution was approved in a national referendum and adopted in Parliament on June 4, 2003. It defines the principles and overall legal framework for the management of public finances in the country. Article 79 of the Constitution stipulates the roles and responsibilities in respect of submission of the draft Finance Law by the Cabinet, the adoption of the Finance Law by Parliament, and the submission of a budget execution report to the Auditor General. The budget must be presented along with the report on the implementation of the previous budget, certified by the Auditor General. The Constitution (Article 91) also limits the legislature s ability to modify the Finance Act by stipulating that bills and statutory amendments, which have the potential to
reduce Government revenue or increase state expenditure, must indicate proposals for raising the required revenue or making savings equivalent to the anticipated expenditure. Article 128 makes provisions for Parliament to obtain information and exercise oversight of activities of the. Article 183 defines the role of the Office of the Auditor General of State Finances, its independence and financial and administrative autonomy. ORGANIC BUDGET LAW AND REGULATORY FRAMEWORK The Organic Budget Law (OBL) on State Finances and Property (Republic of Rwanda, 2006, henceforth OBL) was published on 12 September, 2006 in the Official Gazette, under the reference n 37/2006. It was updated in 2008 given the transition to the East African Community (EAC) fiscal year (Organic Law no. 65/2008 of 11/09/2008). The OBL aims at establishing principles and the basis of planning, budgeting and monitoring of state resources and the sound management of the State Budget, as well as setting the principles that govern state property and other financial resources. It covers both central and decentralised entities. It also sets out the basis for allocating state resources to state functions and reporting any adjustments. In addition to setting clear deadlines for the national budget preparation cycle, clarifying responsibilities and identifying the minimum content of the budget documentation submitted to Parliament, the law provides for a major change in Rwanda s budget framework. Responsibilities for controlling the execution of the budget are decentralised from MINECOFIN to budget agencies. This provides more flexibility to budget agencies and accelerates the process for budget execution. It implies a whole new set of responsibilities for budget agencies and their Chief Budget Managers that need to be carefully accompanied and supported by MINECOFIN and the National Budget Unit (see box below for more details on this). Financial Regulations (ministerial Order n 002/07 of 09/02/2007 relating to financial regulations, published in the Official Gazette n 4 of 15/02/2007) complementing articles 13, 28, 51, and 66 of the OBL require the Minister of Finance to issue instructions regarding: relations with banks; the budget calendar; categories of expenditure and reallocations within agencies appropriations; and accounting standards. Of particular relevance to the budget process the Financial Regulations clarify responsibilities, set milestones in the budget cycle and provide detail guidance on budget execution. BOX 1: CHANGES INSTITUTED THROUGH THE OBL The Law on State Finance and Property adopted in 2006, together with the Financial Regulations that complement it, calls for radical change in the management of public finances and in the internal control system. In particular, it sees a major decentralisation of PFM, both from central Government to local administrations and from MINECOFIN to line Ministries and other budget agencies. Budget execution and the power to execute virements has been decentralised to the Chief Budget Manager in each budget agency. Each budget agency (line ministry, province, semiautonomous institution) will be responsible for its own budget execution and accounting, providing real time information to the Ministry of Finance through the Budget Master integrated financial management system. The new Law on Public Procurement (Republic of Rwanda, 2007), signed in 2007, decentralized public procurement from institutions and established the Rwanda Public Procurement Authority (RPPA) as a procurement regulatory authority in the
country and to provide procurement oversight. Among others, the RPPA is responsible for setting procurement standards, guidelines, and procedures to ensure transparent, effective and efficient public procurements and also to monitor procurements. The law also provides for the establishment of Independent Review Panels. Finally, Government has approved a manual of Government Policies and Procedures for Financial Management and Accounting for use by the accounting personnel in central and local. The manuals, as currently issued, are set out as follows: Volume 1: Financial policies and procedures (MINECOFIN, 2006a) Volume 2: Uniform Chart of Accounts (MINECOFIN, 2006b) Volume 3: Books of accounts, bookkeeping and accounts (MINECOFIN, 2006c) Volume 4: Reporting Requirements (MINECOFIN, 2006d) Overall, the Government of Rwanda has made efforts to strengthen and modernize the legal framework for PFM. Implementation of the new orientations outlined by this revised legal framework remains constrained by human resources and capacity, in particular outside of the Ministry of Finance. On-going efforts to strengthen capacity include, for example, the creation of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Rwanda and the scaling up of training for internationally recognized accounting professional qualification by the ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants), and the development of detailed procedures manuals. INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK The OBL (Article 10) clearly defines the role of Parliament at national level and of the district Councils at local level in the budget process. It is mainly the Chamber of Deputies that is responsible for approving the Finance Law, whereas the Senate has more of a consultative role. The Chamber of Deputies is responsible for approving external borrowings by the central as well as setting limits or ceilings on such borrowings. To complete the accountability cycle the Chamber of Deputies is entitled to receive directly from the Office of the Auditor-General (OAG), audit reports and audited budget execution reports, and financial statements, review, debate and provide oversight function on the executive. The OBL (Article 11) also specifies the role of the Cabinet in the budget process, in particular the requirement that the Cabinet adopts: (i) the national priorities and broad strategic objectives for the coming three years; (ii) the medium term expenditure framework (MTEF) and expenditure envelopes for the coming three years; (iii) the overall amount of transfers to local s. The Ministry of Finance (see Figure 1 for an organogram of the ministry) plays a central role in the budget process. It is both the initiator and the guardian of the process. Its role is defined in Article 12 of the OBL. Within the Ministry of Finance several directorates are in charge of budget preparation. The National Budget Directorate is the central directorate in charge of the overall budget process. It is responsible for overseeing and leading the preparation of the National Budget and MTEF, supporting and reporting on its execution and implementing budget reforms in line with international best practice. It is supported by: During budget preparation: the Macro Directorate and the Planning Directorate Regarding investments and external financing: the Public Investment Technical Team and the External Resources Mobilization and Monitoring unit (the latter is part of the Macro Directorate) During budget execution and reporting: the General Accounting Directorate and the Internal Audit Directorate.
FIGURE 1: MINECOFIN ORGANOGRAM Senior economic advisor Advisor Administrative assistant Internal auditor Administrative assistant Communication expert Legal expert Treasury advisor MINISTER PERMANENT SECRETARY & SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY Rwanda Revenue Authority Rwanda Social Security Board National Institute of Statistics Public Sector Capacity Building Secretariat Capital Markets Advisory Council African Governamce Forum National Bank of Rwanda Rwanda Public Procurement???? NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLANNING & RESEARCH MACRO ECONOMY & EXTERNAL RESOURCES CORPORATE SERVICES GENERAL ACCOUNTING NATIONAL BUDGET GOVERNMENT INTERNAL AUDIT Productive sector policies and programmes Social sector policies and programmes Policy development, evaluation and research EDPRS coordination PITT unit Macroeconomic policy Macroeconomic convergence variables External resources mobilisation & monitoring Corporate planning Finance management HR & administration Information & communication technology Public procurement Public accounting & reporting Treasury management Government portfolio managment IFMIS & DMFAS IT National budget preparation & administration National budget policy & evaluation Fiscal decentralisation Project management & monitoring unit Central internal audit Local internal audit Semiautonomous enterprises Coordination and facilitation unit The National Budget Committee was revived in 2007 with the main objective to improve coordination within MINECOFIN on budgetrelated issues, thereby avoiding duplication and enhancing the quality of the process. Its main responsibilities are to validate the macro-economic framework and draft national MTEF, coordinate the preparation of the Budget Framework Paper and Budget Call Circular, 1 validate the draft finance law and budget execution reports, as well as the budget reform roadmap. With the decentralisation of powers from the Ministry of Finance to budget agencies, the role of Ministers and Secretary Generals in line ministries has become prominent in the budget process. The Financial Regulations specify the responsibilities of Cabinet Ministers (Article 5):
Cabinet Ministers are responsible for (a) approval of the programs and the associated activities and financial budget proposals of the specific ministry; (b) ensuring that the ministry s budget, as approved by the Parliament, is executed only on the approved programs and activities for which it was intended; (c) approving the financial reports of the specific ministry before submission to the Minister. The Office of the Auditor General (OAG), established by law in 1998, 2 has been shifted by the 2003 Constitution from being under the executive and judiciary to reporting primarily to the Parliament. Article 184 of the Constitution requires the OAG to: a) report to the Chamber of Deputies on the implementation of the state budget of the previous year. This report must indicate the manner in which the budget was utilized, unnecessary expenses which were incurred or expenses which were incurred contrary to the law, and whether there was misappropriation or general squandering of public funds an audit of budget execution reports; b) submit a copy of the report to the President of the Republic, the Cabinet, the President of the Supreme Court and the Prosecutor General of the Republic; and c) carry out a financial audit of any State institution or with regard to the use of funds provided by the State as may be required by Chamber of Deputies from time to time. Article 79 of the Constitution requires the Government to provide to the OAG the consolidated financial statements on the previous year s budget at the latest by the end of month 3 following the end of the fiscal year. By the end of month 6, the OAG is required to have sent its report and certification of the financial statements of the previous year to Parliament. ENDNOTES 1. An example of the Budget Framework Paper is MINECOFIN (2011b). MINECOFIN (2011a) is the cover letter to the Budget Call Circular for the preparation of the budget for FY 2011/12. The accompanying link gives access to the documents that are referred to in the cover letter. 2. Law no. 05/1998. BIBLIOGRAPHY Republic of Rwanda (2003) Constitution, accessed at www.rwandahope.com/constitution.pdf Republic of Rwanda (2006) Organic Law on State Finances and Property, accessed at www.oag.gov.rw/img/pdf/organic_law_ on_state_finances_properties.pdf Republic of Rwanda (2007) Law on Public Procurement, accessed at www.rppa.gov.rw/fileadmin/files/docs/public_law.pdf MINECOFIN (2006a) Manual of Gov t Policies and Procedures: Financial Management & Accounting- Volume 1: Financial Policies & Procedures, accessed at www.minecofin.gov.rw/webfm_send/1405 MINECOFIN (2006b) Manual of Gov t Policies & Procedures: Financial Management & Accounting Vol 2: Uniform Chart of Accounts, accessed www.minecofin.gov.rw/webfm_send/1417 MINECOFIN (2006c) Manual of Gov t Policies & Procedures: Financial Management & Accounting Vol 3: Bookkeeping & Accounts, accessed at www.minecofin.gov.rw/webfm_send/1429 MINECOFIN (2006d) Manual of Policies and Procedures: Financial Management & Accounting Volume 4: Reporting Requirements www.minecofin.gov.rw/webfm_send/1426 MINECOFIN (2011a) Budget Call Circular 2011/12, accessed at www.minecofin.gov.rw/webfm_send/1575 MINECOFIN (2011b) 2010/11 2013/14 Budget Framework Paper, accessed at www.minecofin.gov.rw/webfm_send/1988 MINECOFIN (2011c) PFM Reform Strategy mid-term Review, Kigali, April. The Country Learning Notes series is intended as a tool for policy makers and practitioners to learn from the experiences of other countries. Each note focuses on a specific country and a particular policy area, documenting the challenges faced and decisions taken to overcome them. The series can be freely downloaded from www.budgetstrengthening.org. For more information please contact bsi-research@odi.org.uk. Readers are encouraged to reproduce material from the Country Learning Notes series for their own publications, as long as they are not being sold commercially. As copyright holder, ODI requests due acknowledgement and a copy of the publication. For online use, we ask readers to link to the original resource on www.budgetstrengthening.org The views presented in this paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of ODI. Overseas Development Institute 2012 Budget Strengthening Initiative Overseas Development Institute 111 Westminster Bridge Road London, SE1 7JD www.budgetstrengthening.org