Major Jill Rutaremara
15 July 2007
opinion
Kigali — The July 9 - 16, 2007 Newsline Weekly Newspaper carried a headline story titled "Darfur Peacekeepers' salaries diverted." In its opening statement the paper alleged that it had unearthed the diversion of funds estimated to be in millions of dollars meant to be salaries of Rwanda's troops in Darfur by the RDF shots and/or Ministry of Defence officials. The story was written by no person other than Charles Kabonero.In order to attract and convince members of the general public particularly the lazy readers who have no time to peruse through newspapers, the paper carried photographs and captions that gave a false impression that the RDF shots had actually embezzled millions of dollars and that the institution had pleaded guilty.
The RDF and indeed the Ministry of Defence (MOD) officials are not surprised by the story in the weekly. It is not the first time that Newsline has carried a sensational and false story aimed at tarnishing the name of the RDF and sowing discontent among its personnel.
My major objective of putting a pen on paper is not to react to all the nitty-gritty, false allegations and the smear campaign contained in the story. Rather, it is to feed the public with facts.
The RDF is accountable to democratic civilian authority and members of the general public and consequently has the obligation to keep them informed. Individuals and media houses that misinform the public always remind us of this obligation. Indeed this is the only achievement that Newsline has accomplished.
It is part of the RDF Doctrine to explain various issues to its personnel. One of the reasons of doing so is to curtail rumours and speculations.
It is on this basis that the RDF authorities have been explaining several issues including the problem of arrears to soldiers who completed their tour of duty in Darfur especially those that were affected.
Indeed the soldiers were satisfied with the explanations particularly because they have full trust and confidence in their leadership.
Least did I imagine however, that some individuals somewhere could exploit a clear and straight forward situation and make political capital out of it. It is against this background that I wish first and foremost to inform Rwandans and non Rwandans alike about the issue of salary transfers and arrears that Newsline exploited.
Before June 2006 the AU used to pay members of the RDF protection force in cash. In June 2006 the RDF through relevant government organs requested that soldiers' salaries be transferred to Rwanda through the Rwandan Central Bank (BNR) which would in turn remit the money to Zigama Credit Saving Scheme (Zigama - CSS) and finally to individual soldiers' accounts. This system was later to be adopted by other countries with troops in Darfur.
This initiative has some advantages. Firstly, the RDF used to keep cash guarded in boxes waiting for the money to be flown home during the time of rotation. It was undoubtedly risky to keep big amounts of money in an operational area. Thank God nothing bad happened.
Secondly, the RDF has for a long time fought against the culture of paying its soldiers in cash as this has several risks and loopholes. This is precisely why all the salaries of all RDF personnel are deposited on individual accounts in Zigama CSS. Good enough all the fourteen branches of CSS are fully computerized and on-line.
This system of using banks ensures that members' earnings and savings are safe and does not drag the RDF/MOD leadership in minor issues related to salaries and allowances.
Thirdly, repatriating foreign exchange earnings through the banks is in line with the government policy. This is one of ways the central bank can monitor changes in Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Background aside, let me shed some light on the state of arrears that the African Union owes the members of RDF protection force who have served or are still serving in Darfur. In 2006 the AU did not pay RDF the salaries for the months of August, September and December.
However, the AU later released the salary for the month of August 2006 but without a payroll and other payment details. Those with some knowledge in finance know what this means. Although the money was transferred to the Rwandan Central Bank and later to Zigama CSS, it could not be released to 'unknown' beneficiaries. This problem was however later resolved.
In short one can state with certainty that the AU owes RDF the salaries for the months of September and December 2006. The other unfortunate side of the story however is that whereas Newsline is writing about the alleged millions of dollars diverted by the RDF generals and/or MOD officials, no single salary has ever been transferred from the AU Headquarter to BNR since January 2007. In short the AU has not also paid the RDF soldiers for the months of January, February, March, April, May and June.
On a number of occasions the RDF has raised this problem in meetings between the African Union and Troop Contributing Countries (TCCs). The MOD has also on more than one count written to the AU complaining about the problem of accumulated arrears. Rwanda's Ambassador to Ethiopia has also been following up this issue and hopefully it will soon be resolved if what the AU is saying is true.
The allegation by Newsline that the RDF officers are making profits out of the Darfur cash does not at all hold any water. There is no profit being made by the RDF officers out of Darfur cash simply because there is no such cash in Rwanda. If the Rwandan journalists were professional, innovative and objective they could have raised this issue of arrears with the AU authorities.
If a Newsline reporter can contact a Nigerian soldier in Darfur (if at all he did) to find out how much he/she earns I don't see why he cannot contact the AU officials in Addis Ababa before piling up wild allegations, false statements and deliberate distortions. I wonder also whether Kabonero is aware that there exists something called a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between the African Union and Troop Contributing Countries.
This is actually one of the major documents that the Office of the Auditor General bases on to audit the Ministry of Defence since it contains various details including terms of payment.
Lastly, let me comment on some of the false allegations and distortions raised in the story. I did state that Rwandan soldiers in Darfur signed for the money. The truth of the matter however is that a Rwandan soldier gets a monthly salary of 400 USD. Out of this gross salary, a soldier is paid a net monthly salary of 50 USD which he/she signs for on the pay sheet.
This is understandable. A soldier cannot receive part of his/her payment without signing for it. As for the balance of 350 USD there is an agreement under which the AU is obliged to transfer the balance to the Rwandan Central Bank.
The African Union cannot therefore turn around and claim that the salaries of the RDF personnel were transferred when there is no proof to that effect.
Incidentally the same principle also applies to other countries with troops in Darfur. The only difference is that whereas the Nigerian troops for instance opted for a net monthly payment of 100 USD per soldier out of 400 USD, the Rwandan troops opted for 50 USD while the troops from Senegal opted for zero net salary meaning that the whole gross salary of 400 USD per soldier per month is supposed to be transferred to Senegal.
In addition to what has been pointed out the AU has never denied owing the RDF troops the mentioned arrears. Instead the AU has on several counts acknowledged that the organization has outstanding arrears for the RDF soldiers just like they do for contingents from other countries.
It is the balance of 350 USD per month per soldier therefore that is supposed to be transferred to BNR by the AU and finally to Zigama CSS. It is this balance that the AU has not paid for the months mentioned above.
Suffice to say that the failure to pay this balance to members of protection force from different countries has nothing to do with signing for the net monthly payment of 50 USD as in the case of Rwanda.
Instead it has something to with financial problems facing the African Union. This is why the AU finds it easier to pay some advance and not the whole salary. Indeed this system worked well until AU ran into serious financial difficulties. I want to make it clear here that I am not speaking on behalf of the AU.
There may be other reasons other than lack of funds but all the same those reasons have nothing to do with embezzlement by RDF shots.
While talking to Newsline, I also admitted that at one time some money belonging to the RDF soldiers was transferred to a wrong account in BNR and that this problem was quickly resolved by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (Minecofin) after getting the details of bank transactions.
What is wrong with that? What has this got to do with the alleged diversion or embezzlement of the money by the RDF/MOD officials?
Let it also be on record that the RDF soldiers in Darfur have never been forced to contribute money to any project leave alone those mentioned in Newsline.
Transporting bodies of fallen comrades including those who escort them is for instance a responsibility of the African Union and not the RDF. Why would the RDF soldiers then be forced to cover those costs? This is ridiculous!
The paper also highlighted the alleged disparities in salaries. All protection force personnel serving as members of the AU Mission in Sudan (AMIS) have the same status when it comes to salaries irrespective of individual ranks. This also applies to Military Observers (Milobs). The allegation that Nigerians or Senegalese serving as members of protection force receive better salaries than their Rwandan counterparts is laughable to say the least.
Equally laughable especially for those who have served in Darfur is the allegation that Majors in the Rwandan protection force received their salaries unlike their subordinates. Salaries for protection force members are transferred from the AU as a lump sum since they constitute a unit. This is different from individuals from various countries who serve as military observers.
Newsline also mentioned the differences in the amount of food allowance or what the paper also referred to as Ration Cash Allowance (RCA) given to soldiers. All protection force members are entitled to three meals per day and they get them.
No single member of protection force is given cash to buy meals in spite of the fact that the AU pays 300 USD per soldier per month (10 USD per day) for meals. This money is paid to Pacific Architect Engineering (PAE), an American company responsible for all the catering services in the whole mission area.
It does not therefore make any sense to allege that soldiers from other countries receive food allowance of 700 USD while those from Rwanda receive 300 USD per soldier per month when in actual fact no single soldier gets food allowance in cash and when all members of protection force receive same and equal treatment from the AU.
To be more precise all members of protection force receive same amount of salary and food allowance irrespective of their ranks and countries of origin.
It is unfortunate that the RDF personnel have not received some of the money they worked for. It is also unfortunate that some individuals pretend to be concerned about the plight of the RDF soldiers more than the RDF leadership or even the higher and top management of Defence.
Equally puzzling is the ill motive behind this and other publications by Newsline and its twin sister, Umuseso.
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