Thursday, March 6, 2025 in Brazzaville, the Minister of Finance, Budget and Public Portfolio, Christian Yoka, continued his working sessions in the administrations under supervision with a one-on-one meeting with the management team of the General Directorate of Budgetary Control (DGCB), led by Léopold Molomba.

The discussions focused, in particular, on the presentation of the General Directorate of Budgetary Control in its sections "Organization; Means and Concerns".

At the organizational level

This financial management is structured into 4 central directorates; 36 Delegations to the ministries, 61 Delegations to public institutions; 21 Delegations to institutions and 12 Departmental Directorates.

It should be noted that some public institutions do not yet have budget controllers.

The Budget Control Delegations to ministries and institutions have experienced three sequences, namely: from 2010 to 2013, the relocation of the Budget Control Delegations to ministries and institutions; from 2013 to 2019: the suspension of the Budget Control Delegations to ministries and institutions and the assignment of their responsibilities to the General Directorate; and, in 2019, the appointment of new Budget Control Delegates to ministries and institutions, without their redeployment to the ministries.

To this end, a draft budget for the relocation of the Budget Control Delegations was submitted to the Office of the Minister in charge of Finance.

In the "Resources" section

The resources of the General Directorate of Budget Control are of three types: human; material and financial.

Regarding human resources, the DGCB staff increased from 405 agents in 2011 to 807 agents in 2025, an increase of 99.25%. Out of a workforce of 807 agents, 99 have a profile in Public Finance, a percentage of 12%. This low percentage is explained by the assignment to the DGCB by the Human Resources and Training Directorate (DRHF) of staff who do not have the appropriate profile in Public Finance; and by the insufficient annual quota of the entrance exam to the Normal School of Administration and Magistracy (ENAM) of the Marien Ngouabi University of Brazzaville, i.e. 20 places allocated to the DGCB and the General Directorate of the Budget (DGB).

As for material and financial resources, it is noted that, from 2011 to date, the DGCB's vehicle fleet is obsolete. With regard to financial resources, the DGCB has two difficulties, namely: the low annual budget allocation rate and the low level of payment, to the Public Treasury, of its operating budget.

In the "Concerns" section

Among the difficulties encountered by the DGCB, we can cite the lack of a training cycle for control professions at ENAM and the National Middle School of Administration (ENMA) in Brazzaville; the absence of a Thematic Procedure Manual, relating to the attributions of the DGCB, in accordance with the new harmonized framework of Public Finances; the lack of a special status for control bodies; and the absence of an Order on the organization of services and offices.

Reminder of the responsibilities of the DGCB

The General Directorate of Budgetary Control is the technical body that assists the Minister in matters of budgetary programming and control of the execution of the budgets of the State, institutions, public establishments, local authorities, diplomatic representations of the State, projects subsidized by the State and co-financed projects with a management unit, in accordance with Decree No. 2023-1561 of September 15, 2023, on the responsibilities and organization of the General Directorate of Budgetary Control.

The essential missions of budgetary controllers with ministries and institutions are prescribed by Article 74 of Organic Law No. 36-2017, of October 3, 2017, relating to finance laws.

These missions consist of centralizing the budgetary accounting of the sectoral ministry with which each controller is placed; to implement the budgetary regulation decided by the Minister responsible for Finance; to assess the quality and effectiveness of internal control, as well as management control implemented by the principal authorizing officers and the delegated authorizing officers; to assess the sincerity of expenditure and employment forecasts, as well as their budgetary sustainability; and to respect the quarterly quotas of commitments by each authorizing officer.

The Communication Unit of the Ministry of Finance, Budget and Public Portfolio