Parliamentarians overwhelmingly voted for Valens Muhakwa on Friday 5 June 2020 for the chairmanship of the Public Accounts Committee.
After his victory, Muhakwa vowed to ensure proper management of public properties for the sake of national prosperity.
He was the only candidate for the position, and electorate consisting of 78 lawmakers voted for him unanimously.
Muhakwa replaced Jean-Chrysostome Ngabitsinze, who was named Minister of State responsible for Agriculture and Animal Resources on March 9, 2020.
Like Ngabitsinze, Muhakwa is also in Parliament representing the Social Democratic Party (PSD).
Speaking after his election, Muhakwa said that public finances and assets belong to the Rwandan people, and lawmakers have a duty to make public spending value for money.
“As parliamentarians, we are duty-bound to ensure public funds are used for what they were intended to. It is in that framework that as the mandate of the Committee stipulates, we should make sure that no single coin from the public coffers is embezzled or mismanaged because it was designed for the progress of the people,” he said.
“That is my priority, and I hope that I, in partnership with my colleagues in PAC, will achieve it,” he said.
As to how he intends to achieve his goal, he said his committee will ensure that the rule of law is upheld, conduct assessments for audit reports, as well as regular monitoring and assessments of public assets including budget.
“In Rwanda, no one is above the law. The law will hold any person accountable no matter what power they have. … our Committee’s work is provided for by the law,” he observed.
“The Committee analyses various reports especially that of the Office of the Auditor-General and submits assessment reports to parliamentary plenary. When [financial] crimes are identified, they are handled by competent entities, and the culprits are brought to book,” he pointed out.
Muhakwa, 37, holds a Master of Public International Law degree, and has been an MP since 2018.
In the meantime, the Parliamentary Plenary also elected MP Veneranda Nyirahirwa as Chair of the Standing Committee on Land, Agriculture , Livestock and Environment, a post in which she replaced former MP Ignatienne Nyirarukundo who was appointed Minister of Social Affairs at the Local Government Ministry.
Nyirahirwa, who was also the only candidate for the seat, won 77 votes from 78 voters in the parliament.
Nyirahirwa was the Deputy Chair of the same Committee before the election.
Germaine Mukabalisa, who was elected for the committee’s deputy chair, will be deputy with 76 votes.
