English
Kinyarwanda
Several independent corruption assessment reports on Rwanda over the years have placed the country at the forefront among her peers as being the least perceived corrupt country.
The recent Corruption Perception Index (CPI) released by Transparency International, ranked Rwanda 50th least corrupt country in the world, whilst retaining the same 54 per cent score.
The index by the global anti-corruption watchdog saw Rwanda tie with Mauritius to become the 3rd least corrupt country in Sub Sahara Africa and tops in the East African Community as the least corrupt .
Commenting on the report, Marie-Immaculée Ingabire, the chairperson of Transparency International Rwanda commended government for maintaining the fight against graft as a top priority.
“We recognize that the fight against corruption was kept on the top of government priorities,” she said then.
While corruption has been kept at bay by government and in some incidences significantly reduced but isolated cases of corruption have been recorded by police in the recent past.
On October 10, in Burera district one Emmanuel Manirakiza, was arrested attempting to bribe a traffic police officer with Rwf 20,000. He was found riding a motorcycle without a driver’s license.
Again on, September 27, merely a week after police conducted an operation that led to the arrest of 12 drivers over bribery; a similar operation was conducted in Gicumbi District where police also arrest of eight drivers who attempted to bribe traffic officers after they were caught in varied traffic related offences.
The suspects according to the Northern Region Police Spokesperson Inspector of Police (IP) Innocent Gasasira, would have been charged with paying traffic fines and moved on.
His colleague, Chief Inspector of Police (CIP) Emmanuel Kabanda, the spokesperson for Traffic and Road Safety Department concurs that, instead of paying the fines under the law, the drivers resorted to offering bribes, which is a criminal act.
Police records show that 87 people were arrested since January this year as they attempted to bribe their way out of traffic offences and penalties.
To a varying degree, corruption exists in almost all communities, however, the scale at which it impacts the common people’s lives and increases poverty is directly proportional to the level of this scourge and how widespread it is in society.
We are not without examples of the damage that is caused by corruption.
These may include defective, dangerous and inadequate infrastructure - poor and incomplete roads, badly constructed school buildings, fewer class rooms in schools that are liable to collapse with the light rains, hospital facilities.
CIP Kabanda noted that; members of the public need to understand that corruption will always affect the delivery of public goods and should “therefore be at the forefront in eliminating the vice”
He added on that, it is about time the masses also appreciate efforts by public institutions in fighting graft in general and desist from bribing public officers.
“Fighting corruption is a civic responsibility” CIP Kabanda said
Meanwhile, police in conjunction with other stakeholders will employ both preventive and reactive campaigns “until people understand that bribery is illegal and punishable by the law, and abiding to the road traffic rules and regulations and others laws, is a must,” he said.
According to law, corrupt individuals are liable to a term of imprisonment of two to five years and a fine of two to ten times the value of the illegal benefit granted.
