The reputation of the police is in ruins as it remains the most corrupt institution in Rwanda. (file photo)
During a news conference to present the 2013 TI Global Corruption Barometer (TI GCB) report yesterday, executive director Apollinaire Mupiganyi said that in the past three years the level of corruption has decreased by 10% in Rwanda.
The Global Corruption Barometer 2013 report indicates that of the people that had come into contact with health and medical services among East African Community member states who said that they paid a bribe, Rwanda also has the least percentage of only 12% whereas Tanzania has the highest with 45%.
As regards to corruption trend in Rwanda, Transparency International Global Corruption Barometer report says that 89% of the respondents say corruption has decreased in the last two years in Rwanda.
The report says that generally, TI GCB 2013 ranks Rwanda as the only African country perceived least corrupt within 10-14.9% range, which means the country is in the top-3 categories of the least corrupt nations worldwide out of 9 categories. The third category, in which Rwanda falls, includes countries like Israel, Jamaica, Palestine, Philippine, Argentina, Chile, and Hungary. Rwanda is ranked the 13th least corrupt country worldwide.
The corruption trends in East Africa show that Rwanda is the least bribery-prone country in the region with an average index of 2.5%. The other EAC member states Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya fall within the 50-74.9% category.
However, the report ranks the police and judiciary as the most corrupt institutions in Rwanda at 2.1 and 2.0 out of 5 respectively. It indicates that bribes paid to police amount to 23% whereas for the judiciary it is 11%.
The report shows that there is strong political will to fight corruption with Rwandan government effectiveness being the highest in Sub-Saharan Africa with 95%.
“Day-to-day bribery that occurs between citizens and public service providers is not only a cost to citizens in terms of the money that is handed over for unjust reasons, but it also has discriminatory effects on the prevision and management of the service,” director Mugiganyi said.
He noted that TI GCB also ranks government actions in the fight against corruption at a very high 95% effectiveness, adding that the improvement in the ranking is a sign of the commitment from both the government and the citizens to fight the vice.
Africa
Regarding corruption trend in the Sub-Saharan Africa, Rwanda has the lowest percentage at only 6% and Nigeria has the highest at 84%.
Bribery rate of the police were highest at 75% and above in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.
The report indicates that people from 36 countries view the police as the most corrupt institution. In these countries, an average of 53% of people has paid a bribe to the police.
It also shows that reported bribes to the judiciary have increased by more than 20% in Ghana, Indonesia, Mozambique, Solomon Island and Taiwan.
In his remarks at the release of the report on Tuesday, the Minister of Local Government, James Musoni said that the decrease of corruption in the country has been possible due to various strategies and mechanisms which the government and its stakeholders have put in place as regards to the fight against the vice.
“We should be proud that our country has been ranked as the least corrupt nation in Africa and I believe this progress has been made due to the government policy of zero tolerance to corruption in all public institutions,” Musoni said.
He added that although such a huge improvement has been achieved, the government will put in place more measures to achieve a corruption-free society in the near future.
The report shows that apart from Africa, countries with a bribery rate lower than 5% (first category) include Australia, South Korea, Malaysia, Norway, Japan, Belgium, Maldives, Portugal, Uruguay, New Zealand, Spain, Georgia and Finland. The United Kingdom and United States are in the second category of the least corrupt, within the 5-9.9% category.
The most corrupt countries in the world, the report says, are Liberia and Sierra Leone which have a corruption incidence above 75%.
Noel Nkurunziza, the President of Transparency International Burundi, noted that fighting against corruption in the East African member states and beyond requires an inclusive approach which includes the civil society, private sector and the government.
Rwanda director Mugiganyi noted that TI-Rwanda will continue to work to ensure that the rate of corruption is further reduced in Rwanda through sensitizing the general population about the negative impact of the vice towards achieving sustainable development.