The office of the Ombudsman is preparing to visit Burkina Faso and Poland to assess the level of corruption in those countries and crosschecking the general functionality of their corruption control measures.

This was disclosed during the closing of the national corruption week, a ceremony that was held Saturday evening at the Kigali Serena Hotel.

This follows a mutual arrangement to visit and assess each other with an aim of sharing experiences and learning from each other, and creating a pool of ideas and edge-cutting strategies to combat corruption from the face of the earth.

According to the Ombudsman Tito Rutaremara, at least 28 countries from different parts of the world are involved in the programme, including Greece, Tanzania, and Spain.

"Due to the fact that corruption knows no borders, different countries have agreed to exchange experiences and mechanisms of fighting it…we hope it will pay off,” said Rutaremara.

During the same occasion districts that outclassed others in putting in place measures and transparent administrative systems needed in the fight against corruption were recognised and rewarded.

Among the eight districts that participated, three were selected, the best being Rulindo followed by Musanze; both from the Northern Province while the third was Gisagara (Southern Province).

In his speech, the Rutaremara castigated institutions and individuals that still tolerate corruption.

"Corruption should be viewed as a hazard that not only paralyses the country’s economy, but also disarms people of their progressive values, leaving them counterproductive,” said the Ombudsman.

He called upon citizens and institutions to nurture the ideology of fighting corruption as a deliberate indoctrination, starting with young children.

"Just like the previous bad regimes cultivated hatred and divisionism and children grasped these ideologies, the same should be done with good values like fighting corruption so that we can have a corruption-free tomorrow,” he added.

Availability of a clear accountability, a transparent tender awarding system, indicators of good governance and a just conflict resolution system, are among the criteria’s followed in selecting the best districts.  

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