Better service delivery will bring down corruption cases in public institutions, Bernadette Kanzayire, the Deputy Ombudsman in charge of preventing and fighting injustice, has said.

She said on Friday while appearing before Senatorial Standing Committee on Social Affairs, Human Rights and Petitions to further explain the corruption cases cited in Ombudsman’s report that covered August 2013 to June 2014.

 "Some people still offer bribes to acquire specific services. Such cases are rampant in public institutions, especially at districts, but most of them are not reported making it hard for us to get the exact information on this vice,” Kanzayire said.

Kanzayire’s comments were echoed by the deputy Ombudsman in charge of preventing corruption, Clement Musangabatware.

"Corruption remains a problem but we must acknowledge that the government is working hard to curb it,” Musangabatware said.

Presenting the report to Parliament in November last year, the Ombudsman, Aloysie Cyanzayire, said the office received 102 corruption-related complaints,  including 61 about poor service delivery and maladministration, 19 about faulty tendering procedures, and eight about mismanagement of public property.

Others ranged from gender-based corruption in the workplace to embezzlement. Only 8 per cent are still under investigation.

Lawmakers mostly raised issues on the gross glitches noticed in the former Energy Water and Sanitation Authority (EWSA) regarding the management of the National Domestic Biogas Programme (NDBP) and problems to do with the geothermal exploration programme at Mt. Karisimbi.

Sen. Jean Damascene Ntawukuriryayo said some procurement managers awarded contracts to incompetent contractors leading to shoddy work.

The Ombudsman’s investigations found that some biogas plants, constructed in 2010, were dysfunctional because of errors during construction.

Contractors who neglected their responsibilities went unpunished, the report said.

Of the 15 districts the Ombudsman investigated, 1,341 plants were built but only 999 were functioning. The biogas project, which started in 2008, was allocated about Rwf3 billion for a five-year period. However, the Ombudsman said only 25.16 per cent of the funds went into the actual implementation of the project.

On the geothermal project, it was found that three potential wells were awarded yet they were not in the procurement plan. The project’s tendering document was also not properly done.

By April, the geothermal project had already consumed more than Rwf13 billion. Unpaid receipts worth Rwf5 billion were unearthed while disputed costs amounted to over Rwf3 billion.

Disputed costs included over Rwf1.3 billion in penalties EWSA was supposed to pay the contractor because when the latter brought in equipment to start exploration, infrastructure such as roads were not yet set up as per the contract. However, Musangabatware said despite the irregularities, corruption is being dealt with and is going down. 

However, Sen. Ntawukuriryayo said that time for speeches to end corruption was over, hence ask