Up to 87.5 per cent of Rwandans who encountered corruption cases this year did not report them, a new report by a leading anti-corruption watchdog has said.

The 2022 edition of the Rwanda Bribery Index (RBI) was released by Transparency International (TI Rwanda) in the capital Kigali, on Wednesday, December 7.

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There was a slight fall in the figures of the indicator, from 89.4 per cent last year to 87.5 per cent this year, but officials say the numbers are still very high.

According to questionnaires and interviews conducted by T.I Rwanda, 26.5 per cent of those who did not report corruption cases said they did not because it did not directly happen to them.

23.8 per cent said they feared "self-incrimination,” 18.7 per cent said they "knew that no action would be taken even if they reported,” 12.8 per cent said the institution, official or person where they would report was corrupt, while 8.2 did not know where to report, and 5.3 per cent feared intimidation.

In general, the report shows that the level of corruption is not high, as the percentage of people who have directly or indirectly encountered demands for bribes or offered bribes in an interaction with an institution in the last 12 months are low.

Here, 70.9 per cent of the respondents said they encountered no demand for bribes this year, while 23.5 per cent said they encountered such demands. 5.6 per cent said they encountered "proposals” for bribery.

Out of the few (about 13 percent) that managed to report the corruption cases that they encountered, 44.3 percent said they "did not see any action” taken, while 10.1 respondents said they "were not satisfied with actions taken.”

Among the recommendations of the report, T.I Rwanda said there is need for increased campaigns aiming at raising public awareness on the negative effects of corruption, as well as strengthening corruption reporting systems and whistle-blowers’ protection.

The civil society organisation also called for stronger transparency and accountability mechanisms in public and private institutions.

"All public and private institutions are recommended to put in place controls, audits, check and balance mechanisms and an anti-corruption focal person. Computerization of many services in all public and private institutions can undoubtedly improve the efficiency and integrity among service providers and thus significantly reduce corruption in the service delivery chain,” the report read.