Court of Accounts: Only 12 of 303 Burundi Entities Submitted Accounts
- Only 12 out of 303 public entities required by law to submit their financial accounts for the 2025–2026 fiscal year met their reporting obligations.
- Under Article 182 of the Burundian Constitution, the budgetary year runs from July 1 to June 30, requiring institutions to deposit their final accounts with the Court of...
- State-owned commercial banks and public corporations showed complete non-compliance.
Only 12 out of 303 public entities required by law to submit their financial accounts for the 2025–2026 fiscal year met their reporting obligations. Léopold Kabura, president of the Court of Accounts, presented this finding to the National Assembly on October 15, 2026, highlighting widespread compliance failures across Burundi’s public administration, state enterprises, and investment projects.
The Scale of Missing Accounts Across State Entities
Under Article 182 of the Burundian Constitution, the budgetary year runs from July 1 to June 30, requiring institutions to deposit their final accounts with the Court of Accounts by September 30. For the 2025–2026 cycle, central administration bodies, public administrative establishments, and personalized state administrations recorded only four submissions out of 38 obligated entities. Major academic institutions such as the University of Burundi and the École Normale Supérieure failed to file.
State-owned commercial banks and public corporations showed complete non-compliance. Financial institutions including the Bank of the Republic of Burundi, BHB, BBCI, Bancobu, BCB, BIJE, BIDF, RNP, and FIGA omitted their filings, alongside utility and industrial operators such as Onatel, Brarudi, Burundi Airlines, Lona, Sopebu, Sosumo, BBS, Regideso, STNB, and Onatour. None of the 35 public investment projects submitted accounts. Within the healthcare sector, only five of 141 hospitals complied: Bururi, Kamenge, Ngozi, Gitega Regional, and Muramvya. Furthermore, zero provinces and zero communes deposited their financial records.
Institutional Constraints and Legislative Gaps
Lawmakers urged the Court of Accounts to enforce mandatory filing deadlines, but Kabura told the National Assembly that planned awareness campaigns could not proceed due to shortages in human resources and budget allocations. He also confirmed that current legislation lacks punitive measures against defaulting institutions, though a revision of the governing law is underway to introduce official sanctions.
Faustin Ndikumana, national director of Parcem, argued that the persistent failures stem from a deeper governance crisis.
« Il n’y a pas de volonté politique au plus haut sommet pour lutter contre la corruption »
Faustin Ndikumana
Ndikumana maintained that the Court of Accounts has suffered from known resource limitations, a lack of experienced career magistrates, and politicized appointments since 2011, 2012, and 2014, leaving it unable to counter financial malfeasance effectively.
Economic Consequences of Financial Opacity
Diomède Ninteretse, an economist and expert in leadership, characterized the low compliance rate as a severe institutional failure that undermines modern state requirements.
« C’est une grande irresponsabilité de certaines autorités politiques du Burundi. C’est une honte, voire une situation catastrophique, parce que je dois vous dire que la reddition des comptes représente pour moi une rencontre entre trois exigences de l’État moderne. »
Diomède Ninteretse
Ninteretse identified the core principles as the legality of expenditure, the traceability of public money, and the direct accountability of decision-makers.
According to Ninteretse, the resulting financial opacity impairs budget evaluation and obscures whether public expenditures produce tangible infrastructure and services for citizens. He proposed a 90-day regularization program, individual institutional tracking, digitized filing systems, compliance scorecards, and expanded resources for the Court of Accounts to establish clear responsibility.
What Happens Next in the Reform Process
Parliamentary discussions continue regarding the proposed revision of the law governing the Court of Accounts to incorporate legal penalties for non-compliant entities.