Burundi Court of Accounts Flags Missing Public Accounts

In Short

• Burundi’s Court of Accounts says only 12 of 303 entities required to submit accounts for the 2025 to 2026 fiscal year did so.
• Parliamentarians asked the Court of Accounts to take coercive steps to obtain overdue accounts.
• The court’s president says current law does not provide sanctions, but a revised law in progress should add them.

What Happened: Court Of Accounts Reporting Gaps In Burundi

Burundi’s Court of Accounts presented a report to the National Assembly on controls of public finances. Léopold Kabura, the court’s president, said the situation is “concerning” because only 12 of 303 entities covered by the obligation to account submitted their accounts.

The report refers to Article 182 of Burundi’s Constitution. It says the budget year runs from July 1 to June 30, and accounts must be filed no later than September 30, which is three months after the end of the fiscal year.

The non-compliance spans multiple parts of the public sector. In the central administration, public administrative establishments (EPA) and state “personalised” administrations (APE), only four of 38 entities filed accounts. The entities listed as having filed include the Ministry of Finance, Budget and Digital Economy, the National Office of Pensions and Occupational Risks, the National Blood Transfusion Center, and the Burundi Institute of Statistics.

The report also lists institutions that did not submit accounts, including the University of Burundi and the École normale supérieure.

Among public shareholding companies, several banks are named as not having submitted accounts, including the central bank and BANCOBU Bank. Other public companies named as not having filed include Onatel, Brarudi, Burundi Airlines, Regideso, and others. The report also says none of 35 public investment projects submitted accounts. In health, only five out of 141 hospitals submitted accounts, and no province or commune filed accounts.

Why It Matters: Sanctions, Oversight, And Compliance

Parliamentarians recommended that the Court of Accounts take coercive actions to secure the immediate filing of public accounts.

Kabura said awareness campaigns could not be organised due to insufficient human and budget resources. He also said current legislation does not provide sanctions against entities that do not comply.

A revision of the law governing the Court of Accounts is underway. Kabura said the new text should introduce sanctions for institutions that fail to submit accounts.

In a reaction quoted in the report, Faustin Ndikumana, national director of Parcem, said there is no political will “at the highest level” to fight corruption and argued that weaknesses in oversight enable financial misconduct within public institutions.