Though Rwanda has showed good progress in fighting corruption, Transparency Rwanda director Marie Immaculée Ingabire says more needs to be done in ensuring zero tolerance of bribery.
Ingabire has raised concerns including; issuing of jail terms to people found guilty of embezzling public funds yet they don’t refund the stolen money, another area is the employment process into government institutions.
She recommends that among the ways to discourage embezzlement of public funds, is by not only giving longer jail terms to culprits but also ensure that the lost amount is returned to government coffers.
“Imagine if you sentence someone to five years in jail for committing fraud of Frw 500 million, he or she will later be set free and use the money on their personal interests. We have seen many use this trick that’s why I still insist they should serve both the jail sentence and pay back stolen money. The law should be revised,” she advised.
Ingabire disclosed that she is personally tired of redundant reasons from some government officials who fail to deliver and put the blame to employees whom they claim lack competence.
“There’re two things either the official is corrupt or perhaps they hire incompetent employees based on their selfish interests,” she noted.
“How comes they claim workers lack competence yet the employment process was done professionally and those selected given a trial period to verify whether they are fit for the job? This doesn’t make sense,” Ingabire inquired.
Meanwhile, Transparency International ranked Rwanda on 49th place in the world among countries fighting corruption, 4th in the African continent and 1st in the East African Community.
