Will Corruption week fix it all?

We are used to the parliament week against corruption, the ombudsman week to fight corruption now here is the National Police week against the same disease. Well, the questions one may ask, do all those campaigns make an impact, or we need to have another approach? Do the campaigns need reform? Acting Commissioner General of the Rwanda National Police Mary Gahonzire called upon Rwandans to combine efforts in the fight against corruption in an exercise that is running countrywide from March 9 to 13. She made it clear that Police as an institution is itself not clean in as far as corruption is concerned, but was quick to mention that such people will always be dealt with accordingly. Like President Paul Kagame said, you cannot fight against corruption, alongside those who practice it. Recently, government appointed an anti-corruption commission. A considerable number of government officials have since been fired or arrested on corruption related accusations. Preventing corruption is as complex as the phenomenon of corruption itself and a combination of accountability mechanisms and effective law enforcement mechanisms are needed for success. Over the last couple of months, we have seen several government officials in public office put behind bars for corruption and abuse of office. The arrests are part of the evidence of the zero tolerance for corruption and other related vices in Rwanda. The challenge for the media therefore is to take up the President’s call to be the watchdogs against corruption. Report on it. There is a real political will to fight corruption and promote good governance, but it needs to be strengthened to become a real political and administrative culture. The legal and regulatory framework on the fight against corruption and promotion of transparency and integrity is generally satisfactory, but it needs to be expanded and refined. Many public institutions, civil society and private sector still don’t have codes of conducts for the staff and procedure manual, yet this is the minimum required by article 4 of the law no.23/2003 of 07/08/2003 on the prevention and suppression of corruption and related offences. The institutions fighting corruption exist and are generally effective but there is a need for harmonization and coordination. T he observers believe that permanent secretaries of the ministries and Executive Secretaries of the decentralized entities are not subject to competition in recruitment, contrary to the Presidential Decree no. 37/01 of 30/08/2004 on the recruitment of the state. The private sector is still undeveloped. Unlike in the public sector, corruption in this sector is not easy to control. However, I don’t want to mean that it can’t be controlled. The generalization of ‘code of cooperate’ governance would help fight corruption and professionalize the sector. Embezzlement of public funds is punishable under the penal code, Article 220 which states that, the embezzler faces an imprisonment term of between five and twenty years and a fine of up to Rwf 50,000. According to reports covering three years (2005-2007) by the General Inspections of Courts and Tribunals, embezzlement cases brought before the courts are insignificant compared to embezzled amounts. Or are the fishing nets of the justice system so weak they can’t handle big fish? How come no cases of fraud, money laundering, illegal public procurement were discovered! The reports indicate that in the tribunals of Karongi, Nyagatare, Gicumbi and Musanze the penalties imposed are disproportionate to the amount diverted or given as bribes. “Judges do not take into account the minimum and maximum penalties of imprisonment and fine as prescribed in the law: many are those who serve sentences and /or pay fines below the minimum or above limits laid down by the law.” All in all, mobilization of the community is not enough. Much emphasis should be put on the implementation of the laid laws and regulatory institutions. The justice ministry should do more to minimize the judge’s abuse, and free hand in the interpretation of the law. The Justice system and corruption regulatory institutions should be the main focus instead of crusading in the highways and laying sign posts that have massages denouncing corruption without doing some thing in their offices. Ends