Transparency Initiative (EITI)

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8.3.1 FISCAL TRANSPARENCY
The EITI process in DRC has dramatically improved its fiscal
transparency, largely following the EITI Standard and
its requirements. As one interviewee said “la machine est
en marche”, meaning that the process is now underway and
improving with each Report, not only in content, but also
in process.
The initial EITI Reports took up to one year to prepare, with
significant time spent in explaining the entire process and
justifying it to a skeptical audience among companies and
the government. The country’s 2014 EITI Report, its most
recent, took approximately four months to complete, demonstrating
a significant improvement in time. Indeed, the
2012, 2013 and 2014 EITI Reports took little more than one
year to produce in TOTAL.
Data credibility and availability: The 2015 Report should
be completed by Fall 2016, which will allow it to play a role
in the budgetary debate. This could be the first time that it
is not published at the end of the calendar year and within
12 months of the fiscal year. In addition, data can be confirmed
and released in shorter amounts of time. Several
members of the government shared that data is now compiled
and confirmed within three months of receiving preliminary
data. With every year, the EITI process is cutting
down the “confirmation” time, which makes data more relevant
for constituencies, notably civil society organizations
and the government.
Following the money: A watershed moment for the EITI
process in Congo occurred in the publication of the
2010 EITI Report in which a USD 88 million sum was
unaccounted. The Auditor General systematically went
through and found that indeed the money should have
been deposited into government accounts, but was instead
transferred to a commercial bank to assist with its liquidity
issue.
A similar result of improved fiscal transparency and a better
understanding of the sectors can be expected if these are
both introduced in the 2015 EITI Report. The point of “impact”
in forestry and ASM should also be shorter than that
of the oil, gas and mining sectors because the MSG, the National
Secretariat and the government should be more efficient
in incorporating both sectors into the EITI process.
Several years ago, “it would have been impossible to think
that the DRC would publish beneficial information”,
quipped one interviewee. Despite that, the DRC participated
in the beneficial ownership pilot and even garnered an
award for it at the 2016 Lima Conference. This is a big step
in erasing some of the questions around the link between
politics and business. Please note that it publishes the beneficial
owners on record with shares of more than 3%. Civil
society organizations noted that a number of companies
had their bases in the Virgin Islands and so it was impossible
to know for sure who owned what, without further examination
of those companies.
Transparency (and Credibility) on the Page: The EITI Report
is increasingly being seen as the most authoritative and
creditworthy document published in the DRC. Examples
such as the actual split (60% – central government, 25% –
regional government and 15% – producing communities)
of which level of government receives what percentage of
revenue builds further legitimacy into the process. Nothing
breeds success like success. Many stakeholders know that
the information is received from several agencies, but that
the authoritativeness of the information receives a boost
because it is seen to have the necessary quality assurance
built into it, which comes directly from the EITI Standard’s
Requirement 5.
With small victories like this, the country’s institutions are
challenged and increasingly seen competent to deal with
them. This provides them also with the much-needed confidence
to carry out their duties.
Other Sectors and Beneficial Ownership: ASM and Forestry
will cover the DRC’s two great unknown sectors. This
would be a very positive sign that the government is serious
about fiscal transparency in other sectors of the economy.
Civil society organizations still continue to point out irregularities
and transparency challenges in both sectors.