Triggering the recovery of loans granted to hillside cooperatives for the Fiscal Year 2019-2020 is the leitmotiv of the recommendations made by the Court of Auditors at the end of a performance audit carried out respectively to seven communes.
This is what comes out of the general public report for the year 2022 presented on the sidelines of the plenary session on Monday, January 08, 2024 by the CEO of the Court of Auditors. Mrs Générose Kiyago nevertheless deplored the fact that among 119 communes, only 60 filed their accounts with the Court during 2022, representing a filing rate of 51%.

While almost public services other than communes have not submitted their accounts to the Court, she added, in the category of public companies, only Imbo Rice Development Company (SRDI) has submitted its accounts for the 2020-2021 fiscal year, on June 10, 2022. In the category of personalized administrations, public administrative establishments and projects and programs funded by public money, she continued, only five (05) entities have fulfilled this duty. Besides the Independent National Human Rights Commission of Burundi and the Gitega Regional Hospital, there are also the Independent National Electoral Committee and the Karusi Cinquantenaire Hospital and the Burundi Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies.

The situation is as such, and to her surprise, Law no. 1/002 of March 31, 2004 on the creation, missions, organization and functioning of the Court of Auditors (article 18) requires all public services to send the Court their accounts for the previous Fiscal Year.
What is even more unfortunate, she complained, is that the provisions of this law do not reflect current developments. And she called for the legal framework of the Court of Audit to be updated.

The MPs listened carefully to this grievance, and went on to enumerate a series of measures to rectify the situation. In addition to the introduction of a handbook of procedures, an organization chart and program-based budgeting, the MPs also emphasized capacity-building throughout the country, the consolidation of accounting relations between the ministry in charge of finance and the sector-based ministries, the setting up of a national data center, an increase in the budget allocated to the Court of Auditors, and accountability.

In addition, the plenary session set itself the task of thoroughly analyzing the ins and outs of the exemption practice. Favoring investors or eliminating exemptions? That is the question. The country has a choice," regretted the deputies, before demonstrating that the exemptions that cause the country a loss of revenue are a condition dear to investors who aggravate the country’s fissure by giving up a third of their revenues. The problem is known, but its resolution remains impossible.

Certainly, Treasury bonds issued via the central bank are loans. But the other side of the coin, say the deputies, is that these loans carry a low interest rate, which is detrimental to the national economy.