Rwanda National Police

Rwanda National Police (RNP) has geared up efforts to monitor public procurement processes, identify risks and investigate malpractices in a bid to foster transparency and accountability.

To this effect, at least 20 officers operating in the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) enrolled in an internal training to improve their knowledge on national laws as well as skills on handling cases related to corruption in public procurement.

The one-day training was held on February 12 at the RNP headquarters in Kacyiru and was conducted in partnership with Rwanda Public Procurement Authority (RPPA).

Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) Morris Murigo, the Deputy Commissioner of CID, said that the training will contribute to the officers’ expertise in fostering Rwanda’s vision on zero tolerance to corruption.

“Corruption in public procurement leads to mismanagement of money meant to deliver services. Our country is renowned successfully fighting corruption and therefore, through such training, RNP aims to enforce accountability in public procurement,” he said.

“By fighting criminality in procurement, RNP indicates its commitment to high standards of integrity and plays its role in assuring a level playing field in all procurement processes.”

One of the trainers, Prosper Habumuremyi, a Legal Affairs Officer at RPPA, told the officers that malpractices are capable of happening at any stage of a procurement process – and therefore – vigilance is paramount in carrying out timely and professional investigations.

“During bid evaluation, there are some individuals tend to disqualify or qualify bids in an improper manner due to personal and selfish reasons. This is just one of the crimes committed in procurement processes which must not be tolerated.

Articles 628 and 629 of the Penal Code stipulate that any person who discloses information on specifications of a tender before its publication, illegally influences evaluation tender processes, or offers a  tender to an unqualified party; shall be liable to a term of imprisonment between six months to two years and a fine between Rwf0.5 million and Rwf2 million.

The articles also punish a superior who orders a subordinate to commit one of the above crimes, with a term of imprisonment between three and five years on plus the same fine.