It has been proven that prevention is better than cure. This has mainly been preached in health circles. Nothing beats the feeling of being healthy. However, when you fall sick, apart from the pain, there are financial constraints as well. And that is on just the curable diseases…some stay with the individual for life.

Corruption should also be treated like a preventable disease. Rwanda has a zero tolerance to the disease called corruption. Fortunately, the political will is there, with the President himself being at the frontline against corruption.

Sometimes to prevent a disease, there is vaccination.
The Deputy Prosecutor General, Alphonse Hitiyaremye, recently said that government will start freezing the assets of individuals suspected of being involved in corruption in a bid to recover looted state funds.

This should be a welcome move. It should be viewed as a sort of vaccination. Rwandans should be aware that the said ‘state funds’ are their funds. They are the state. Therefore they should not let anyone play with their funds.

Rwanda’s law punishing corruption and related charges stipulates that depending on the judge’s perspective, the culprit of such crimes will be compelled to spend between five to ten years in jail, in addition to paying two to ten times the amount of what was offered as a bribe.

Only when people learn that the consequences of corruption are dire will they hold back their ‘appetites’.

In any case, this is money supposed to save lives through improved health care facilities, save time through improved communication networks and much, much more.

We should all therefore actively take part in fighting and preventing the disease because once it takes root, it will be like a hydra and that will be more expensive to deal with.

Ends