KIGALI - The Ministry of internal security is planning to pass a decree that will discourage police officers from quitting the force at their will, The Sunday Times has learnt.

According to a reliable source, the Ministry has designed a draft decree that will be forwarded to the President for endorsement as a Presidential order.

When contacted, the internal security minister, Musa Fazil Harerimana, told The Sunday Times that, the decree is pending until the ratification of the amended law governing the police force by parliament.

Harerimana stressed that the decree will help to control the unnecessary movement of officers who join the force without a clear vision.

"We have many in the force who come for education and other benefits, then afterwards, they decide to quit when the government has wasted a lot of money on them,” Harerimana said. 

According to the draft decree, the police officers who will want to quit the force on their own volition will be obliged to pay back the money the ministry spent on them, and will be blacklisted so that they do not get other public jobs.

The draft decree when passed will adopt desertion of the force as a crime that is punishable by the law since it has been considered as an act of indiscipline.

One junior police officer, who spoke to The Sunday Times on condition of anonymity, said that if passed, the decree will militarise the police as the law will be similar to that governing the army.

The amended law when passed will also enforce the decree that will transform the police disciplinary centre to a rehabilitation centre.

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