Investigations into government officials who reportedly hire their vehicles to transport agencies, who in turn hire them to government agencies are complete, The Sunday Times has learnt.Investigations into the matter started late last year and officials from the Office of Ombudsman said the report would be sent to the Office of Prime Minister and other relevant ministries like the Ministry of Public Service and Labour for action.Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency (RURA) recommends that government institutions hire vehicles from transport agencies. Institutions hire vehicles to transport their employees in the field at varying rates depending on the distance. But some government officials reportedly hire their vehicles to transport agencies for personal benefit.Aime Jean Kajangana, in charge of monitoring the leadership code of conduct in the Office of Ombudsman, confirmed but declined to give details in the report.Early this week, he promised to give this newspaper the number of government officials implicated. He however, changed his mind saying he needed to be cleared by his bosses.On Friday, he could not answer repeated calls from The Sunday Times. Recently, he said he could not give the names of those implicated because investigations were still under way.When investigations started, he said those implicated would be disciplined because the leadership code of conduct was very clear to all government officials.According to Ministry of Infrastructure, government officials cannot hire out vehicles before the four year guarantee expires.The four year guarantee is the period a government official is given to service the car loan. After this period, the car becomes personal property and is free to be used for private business.A minister’s vehicle costs about Rwf 35 million tax free. The government pays 50 percent and the rest is settled by the beneficiary in a space of four years.
