Rwanda National Police (RNP) and Tigo-Rwanda, a mobile telecom company, have signed an agreement establishing joint mechanisms on crime detection and prevention, including fighting corruption.

The deal was signed yesterday between Inspector General of Police (IGP) Emmanuel K. Gasana, and Philip Amoateng, the Chief Executive Officer of Tigo-Rwanda.

This was on the sidelines of a conference on anti-corruption held at the RNP General Headquarters in Kacyiru.

Under the partnership, both parties agreed to jointly tackle cyber-related crimes, share specialised security-related expertise and skills, and increase sensitisation against specific crimes.

The telecommunications company, in particular, will support Police campaigns through various channels, including SMSs, media and social forums; supplement crime investigations, partner in sharing information related to corruption and other malpractices, and provide telephone service lines as well as cater for the already existing short codes – 112 emergency and 3512 for Gender Based Violence.

In his remarks, IGP Gasana noted that the formal cooperation supplements the existing strategies against graft and crimes in general.

"Cooperation is an effective tool we value through community policing to detect, fight and prevent crimes,” IGP Gasana said.

Amoateng expressed Tigo-Rwanda’s "willingness and readiness” to collaborate with security agencies and RNP, in particular, in the quest to guarantee safety and peace at all times.

"We acknowledge that security and safety is a shared responsibility. It is not only the responsibility of the police but also the corporate world and individuals who live in the country… to ensure that citizens live in peace and harmony,” Amoateng said.

"We don’t have business if there is no security; our business only flourishes where there is peace and security…when there is less corruption in society.”

He noted that fighting corruption, in particular, is one of the codes of conduct in Tigo under their code ABAC (anti-bribery, anti-corruption, combat).

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