The Rwanda National Police (RNP) is set to regain powers to conduct criminal investigations five years after it relinquished this role to the newly-formed Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB), thanks to a new draft law presented to parliament last week.

The bill, tabled by Interior minister Alfred Gasana, seeks to help bridge gaps that frustrate the operation and management of the police force, according to officials.

When RIB was established in 2017 as the country’s career investigative organ, it effectively took over some of the responsibilities formerly under the police, including powers to conduct criminal investigations.

As a result, the police was left without powers to, among others, conduct search at a suspected crime scene, to seize certain items related to a crime, to collect preliminary evidence at the crime scene, and to conduct an investigation of road traffic offences, including accidents.

This, officials say, partially affected the functionality of the police, forcing the latter to overly rely on RIB.

The New Times now understands that the proposal to give some investigative powers to the police is meant to help both RIB and RNP deliver more effectively in what one source described as an effort at ensuring "complementarity” between the two institutions.

The new draft law, which has since sailed through the Chamber of Deputies, allows the police force to conduct search, as well as seize and collect evidence and submit a report to RIB within 24 hours.

"RNP may arrest a person who breaches security, a fugitive or a wanted person, and immediately hands over him or her to the organ in charge of criminal investigation or military investigation in case he or she is a soldier,” article 28 of the bill reads in part.

It adds, "In case RNP arrests a person, (it) produces a report thereof and submits it to the career investigator or military investigator within a period not exceeding 24 hours. That report contains the circumstances of arrest, the offence he or she is suspected of committing, preliminary evidence, potential witnesses and objects seized during the arrest.”

Notably, once it’s ultimately gazetted into law, the instrument will give the Rwanda National Police full powers to carry out investigations into road traffic offences.