Rwanda National Police

Four truck drivers were arrested yesterday on different highways for allegedly trying to bribe Police officers on duty.

The four men currently detained at Kicukiro Police station were trying to induce the officers not to penalize them over traffic offences, Police Spokesperson, Assistant Commissioner of Police Damas Gatare said.

The bribes ranged between Rwf2, 000 and Rwf5, 000. They were apprehended by the very officers they attempted to bribe.

The quartet confessed to the crime and begged to be forgiven
“I was transporting stones from Bugesera to Kigali but when I reached in Gihanga, I was stopped by a traffic officer who asked me a ‘transport authorisation’ which I didn’t have,” Ezra Ntakirutimana, one of the suspects, who begged for forgiveness, said.

“I offered him (officer) Rwf5, 000 to let me go but he instead arrested me,” he added.

Ntakirutimana also had a message for fellow drivers not to take similar moves because “what we thought is possible is a dead end.”

Normally, any truck driver found transporting goods without authorisation permit is fined Rwf10, 000.

Another suspect, Jean Bosco Ikitegeka said: “I wouldn’t want what my colleagues and all Rwandans to go through what I am facing today because we are left to regret after doing wrong things.”

Ikitegeka had offered a bribe of Rwf2, 000.

ACP Gatare warned the general population against such malpractices.
“We have been conducting similar operations and a number of members of the public have since been arrested and the operation will continue because we have information about others involved in bribery tendencies,” ACP Gatare said.

“The Rwanda National Police initiated measures to fight graft within the force such as supervising and controlling officers on duty and taking disciplinary action against anyone caught in such corrupt tendencies,” he added.

The RNP established the Anti-corruption unit to keep the officers in the check and to enforce the force's zero tolerance stance to graft within the force.

Other measures include the Ethics Centre to maintain professional standards, values and norms of officers, E-Policing such as online registration of driving licence tests.

ACP Gatare also disclosed that a total of 78 police officers caught in graft-related crimes since July last year were dismissed from the force while case files of nine others were forward to prosecution for other legal actions.

Last year, the force dismissed 34 police officers after they were caught in corruption-related crimes.