Office of the Ombudsman and Public Financial Management in Local Government of Rwanda

ABSTRACT 

The study attempted to examine the role of the Office of Ombudsman in Public Financial Management in Local Government of Rwanda. The objectives of the study were to study various levels of management of public resources, investigate the extent to which the Office can be effective control of public resources management and examine the challenges of Office of Ombudsman in controlling/monitoring public financial resources. A descriptive survey, qualitative research designs and documentary analysis were used to collect required information from 54 staff of Office of Ombudsman, 38 sector council members, 27 sector staff members and 27 school staff members. Descriptive analysis and simple percentage were used to analyze ciat~ firstly, the results showed that the Office of Ombudsman has played a significant role in Public Financial Management in local government of Rwanda. Secondly ,It was however found out that many challenges need to be overcome. Challenges include heavy duties compared to resources, scarcity of resources, low participation of the public, false information in declaration of assets, inability to verify all declaration of assets; failure by some officials to declare assets, the Office has limited power, among others. To optimize the effectiveness in Public Financial Management, the researçher recommended that the Office should be strengthened through expanding the number of its personnel and increasing the budget allocated to the Office; the population should actively support the Ombudsman activities through reporting cases of misuse and embezzlement the Office of Ombudsman should put into place mechanisms for verification of as many declarations as possible; the Office should be empowered with the abilities and competencies to make decisions concerning cases of misuse and embezzlement of public assets; the campaign of sensitizing the population about the mandate of the Office must be reinforced.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter page

ONE: THE PROBLEM AND ITS SCOPE 1

Background to the study I.

Statement of the problem 3

Purpose of the study 3

Objectives of the study 3

Research Questions 4

Scope of the study 4

Significance of the study 5

Operational Definitions of Key Terms 5

TWO: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 7

Introduction 7

Concepts, Opinions, Ideas from Authors/Experts 7

Theoretical perspective 11

Related studies ig

THREE: METHODOLOGY 24

Research design 24

Research population 24

Sample size 25

Research instrument 26

Validity and reliability of instruments 26

Data gathering procedures 27

Data analysis 27

Ethical consideration 28

Limitations of the study 28

FOUR~DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION 29

Introduction Error~ 

Characteristics of respondents 29

Distribution of respondents per marital status 31

Distribution of respondents per age group 32

Distribution of respondents per administrative position 33

Levels of administration involved in public resources management 34

The effectiveness of the office of ombudsman in controlling public financial resources 36

The challenges of office of the ombudsman in controlling/monitoring public 42

FIVE:FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS 45

Findings 45

Conclusions 46

Recommendations 47

REFERENCES 49

APPENDICES

APPENDIX A: INSTRUMENTS QUESTIONS FOR INTERVIEW GUIDE 51

APPENDIX B: BUDGET 56

APPENDIX C: TIME FRAME 57

APPENDIX D: RESEARCHER’S CURRICULUM VITAE 58