Meet a Government Agency With Rwf 2bn Laying Idle In Bank

While the sports ministry has no money for sports talent development, one agency has more than Rwf 2billion on a bank account and to make matter more bizarre, the agency has not come up with a plan for what it will do with the money.

On January 23, 2018, the Rwanda Information Society Authority (RISA) opened a bank account 1000043105 in the National Bank of Rwanda called ‘Computers Revolving Fund Frw’. As of March 2021, the Auditor General discovered the account had Rwf 2,066,347,994 ($2.1million).

Asked by the auditing team what the money was for, RISA officials had no tangible response, apart from saying the account was opened for depositing of funds from sale of POSITIVO computers.

There is a local firm POSITIVO BGH that assembles laptop computers. Government committed to support it by requiring all university students to get personal laptops for which they would pay in installments.

The Sports Ministry had asked for Rwf 13billion for the next financial year as its budget, aiming to undertake different talent development initiatives. It was only given Rwf 3billion, a move the government says it has no money as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.