For the fourth time and in as many years, Rwanda Social Security Board (RSSB), the country’s sole pension custodian, is at the centre of discussions in the Auditor-General’s report over its investment decisions.

RSSB is accused of investing pensioner’s money in ventures which have not generated any returns, a recurring issue for it also appeared in last year’s report.

The body came under fire recently for building mega structures in rural areas — which made it difficult to get clientele for the buildings — after which it responded by hiring CVLD to manage and let out the properties.

READ: Rwanda MPs query rent costs amid vacant State buildings

The Auditor-General faulted RSSB for continuing to perform accounting and financial reporting “in one set of books of account for pensions, medical schemes and the recently added mutuelle de santé,” something which has “resulted in misallocation of some transactions and balances across schemes and arbitrary allocation of operating expenditures across the schemes.”

The report says this haphazard mode of financial management is likely to lead to erosion of funds of one scheme to meet the obligations of the other.

For some time pensioners have complained that RSSB has invested their money in ventures which have not generated returns, an issue the AG’s report has raised in two consecutive reports.

According to the report, 16 equity investments which cost the body Rwf65 million, did not earn RSSB a cent in the year ended June 30, 2015, but the pension body still injected Rwf16 billion to three of the investments in question.

“Continuing to hold investments where no return is earned has a negative bearing on the long term financial sustainability of the pension scheme,” reads the report.

When Rwanda Today contacted Moses Kazoora, RSSB’s public relations and communications director, he defended the pensions body from any wrongdoing.

“All the investments RSSB has ventured into are long term, you cannot expect to get returns the following day. These are investments that go with the country’s Vision 2020. In all the investments we make, returns cannot be immediate,” he said.

Regarding the accusations of unreliable accounting records and financial statements, which the Auditor-General found to contain inaccuracies, he admitted to a possibility of inaccuracies.

“We agree the financial statements could be inaccurate. These are accounts that need to be managed separately,” he said.

He disagreed with accusations of wasteful spending by the body, saying, “There could be errors and, delays here and there but we prudently manage people’s funds.”

He added that they are putting measures to resolve the internal issue coming with the growing portfolio.

“We are running a portfolio of over Rwf500 billion. It is possible to have administrative errors and inaccuracies.”

The inaccuracies are said to be arising from “errors and inappropriate basis applied in valuing unquoted and unlisted equity investments with questionable fair value gains of Rwf9 billion, overstatement of fair value of quoted/listed equity investments by Rwf2 billion,” said the report.

Pensioners have for some time now decried the meagre pay they get, saying that it is negligible to sustain even their basic necessities of food.

A research report released last year by the union of pensioners indicates that 95 per cent of the senior citizens on pension do not access life necessities from the pension benefits they receive.

That 22 per cent of the pensioners receive not more than Rwf10,000 per month — some even below Rwf5,200 — from their pension benefits.