Rwanda’s Parliament has expressed concern over delays affecting public procurement projects worth nearly Rwf61.6 billion, after finding that work on numerous government contracts has failed to begin because of slow contract review and approval processes.
The issue was highlighted on 4 August 2026, when the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) presented its analysis of the Auditor General’s report on the implementation of the national budget for the financial year that ended on 30 June 2025.
According to the committee’s findings, nine public institutions awarded contracts with a combined value of approximately Rwf61.559 billion, but many of the projects had still not commenced because the responsible authorities delayed reviewing or finalising the contracts.
MP Beth Murora said the figures point to serious weaknesses in public financial management. She noted that, on average, each of the nine institutions was responsible for contracts worth nearly Rwf6.8 billion, arguing that such high-value procurements should receive close and timely oversight.
She said the delays reflected shortcomings in the way public institutions manage procurement and protect public resources.
Murora also linked the issue to broader concerns that small and medium-sized contractors are often excluded from government tenders because procurement packages are too large and require financial capacities beyond the reach of many local businesses.
The PAC report further found that the centralised procurement system has increased bottlenecks in the award of public contracts.
Murora argued that centralising procurement not only slows project implementation but also increases costs for the government. She cited procurement managed through the Rwanda Information Society Authority (RiSA), saying some services, such as document scanning and printing, are now significantly more expensive than when individual institutions managed those procurements themselves.
She called for the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MINECOFIN) to ensure that the ongoing revision of Rwanda’s Public Procurement Law creates greater opportunities for smaller contractors by allowing them to compete for portions of large government projects.
PAC Chairperson Valens Muhakwa agreed with the recommendation, saying discussions with RiSA had confirmed that many large public tenders remain inaccessible to smaller firms.
He explained that procurement delays are sometimes caused by the central purchase of equipment. For example, when a district requires large quantities of computers, it must wait for RiSA to complete the procurement process before implementation can begin, resulting in projects remaining idle for months.
Muhakwa noted that some contracts have remained inactive for as long as nine months while institutions waited for equipment to be delivered. Beyond delaying service delivery, he said the system can also increase procurement costs, even though the requesting institutions have little control over the purchasing process.
He added that RiSA has informed the committee that it plans to divide large procurement contracts into smaller lots, enabling more local contractors to participate while helping accelerate implementation and improve efficiency.This version is written in a neutral, professional style appropriate for publication in a policy, governance, or business newsletter.
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