The civil society has called on government to design measures of sacking civil servants who are involved in corruption without the suspects manipulating the legal procedures to get away with the crime.

Transparency International Rwanda chairperson Marie Immaculée Ingabire made the suggestion during an anti-corruption consultative meeting focusing on increasing citizens’ awareness, engagement and inclusiveness in fighting corruption in service delivery.

The session was held at Rwanda National Police headquarters in Kacyiru.

She said that the policy that Rwanda National Police (RNP) implemented to punish and dismiss any officer involved in corruption should be emulated even in public institutions to deal with civil servants, revealing that the same applies to any person in countries such as Botswana (which has been paying off in tackling graft).

She revealed that there is a case in Kigali whereby an public official was caught in the act of being given Rwf1 million [in corruption], yet, when they reached the court, a judge realised that they cannot rule whether the person is guilty of the corruption, resulting in the official’s return to public service.

"That is a major scandal; if the civil servant statute is not changed, we will not make a step further [in terms of fighting corruption],” Ingabire observed.

Police has made progress in punishing and sacking police agents who commit corruption crime, pointing out that the statute and management of its workers has enabled such a move, said Kayisime Nzaramba, Nyarugenge District Mayor.

"Police statute helps them to expedite the implementation [dismissal of corrupt officers]. We have a problem of civil servants statute which is a challenge for us because when we have a worker who has received corruption, it has to go through administrative procedures which is not effective in dealing with this problem,” she said, informing that there are cases where arrested workers are released as investigation argue there is not enough facts to support the decision.

Speaking during the panel discussion on curbing corruption, ACP Jean Nepo Mbonyumuvunyi, Commissioner for Private Security Service Providers at RNP said that the issue raised needs advocacy, but advised that there should be values that can prevent abuse in civil servants management, so that it does not have wrong outcome.

On people released after arrest and investigation, he said it might be a result of insufficient evidence.

"There should be partnership especially in sharing information so that RIB (Rwanda Investigation Bureau) which does investigation, and police that arrests people do it based on sufficient evidence that the person in question is the one liable to a crime,” he said.

Since 2016 (about two years ago), Police has dismissed 371 police agents over corruption.

Corruption in police reduced from 15.5 [percent in 2016] to [8.1 percent in 2017] as show reports by Transparency International.

"We at Police have chosen not to tolerate corruption,” he said pointing out that "if we don’t tackle corruption what we will bequeath to our children is ‘a disaster’.”

Severe punishment as a means to curbing corruption

The Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Johnston Busingye said tackling corruption should not be a choice, rather a responsibility for all given that it is destructive such as by preventing achievement of good cause, making people unhappy with leadership as they do not get due benefits from it, and the leadership does not take care of the people, hence breaking the relation between the leaders and the citizens.

"Pushing those who indulge in corruption should be a culture such that others fear it. We will, in anyway, win the fight against corruption. But, we will achieve this by shunning, preventing and fighting it, as well as punishing those convicted of corruption to the extent that those who know them, and their relatives will fear corruption,” Busingye said.

"We will prevail over corruption when people fear it, and they will not fear it when they do not fear its consequences,” he said stating that when corruption isovercome in service delivery, it is combated at over 90 [percent as that is a sector where corruption cases are prevalent.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw