KIGALI - A new study by Transparency International (T.I) shows that the fight against corruption is paying off.

The study dubbed ‘Rwanda Bribery Index (RBI) 2010’ measures bribery levels in the private and public sectors
Speaking at the launch of the index, last week, the chairperson of Transparency Rwanda, Immaculee Ingabire, pointed out that the research shows that the likelihood of encountering a bribe demand is 3.9 percent while the prevalence of bribery is at 2.15 percent.

"Bribery levels in our country are so low, and we commend all the institutions that fight corruption on a daily basis,” Ingabire said.

The research is the first attempt by any organisation to intensely analyse the current state of this specific form of corruption in the country.

Respondents in the survey mention the police as the leading institution in fighting corruption. 43.2 percent said they had faith in the police on fighting corruption followed by the Ombudsman at 17.6 percent and the Presidency at 15.5 percent.

The survey dwelt on small bribes and petty corruption. Almost 90 percent of the bribes paid were below Rwf50, 000 while 40.5 percent were below Rwf5, 000.

According to the research, the Police has the highest prevalence of bribery rated at eight percent, closely followed by civil society at five percent, village conciliators at 4.2 percent and private sector at 3.2 percent.

Bosco Binenwa, an ethics and culture professor at Kigali independent University (ULK), reacting to the report, explained that because Police are law enforcers, it  makes them susceptible to bribes.

"They are exposed to bribery from people who fear being apprehended or fined larger sums of money,” Binenwa said.
Police spokesperson, Theos Badege, concurred that the nature of their work makes them prone to bribes, but noted that the institution has mechanisms to facilitate the elimination of the vice.

"We are fighting corruption in every way possible and that is why the Police has come top on the list of the institutions fighting corruption,” Badege said.

He added that taking a bribe is outlawed and all officers within the force are aware of the grave consequences should they be found guilty of taking bribes.

Speaking at the launch of the report, the Minister of Local Government, James Musoni said: "Though the government has put in place a number of ways to check corruption, it is always important to have an outsider’s view.”

He added that he was confident that such perception surveys would help government to fine-tune zero tolerance strategies to corruption.

The Minister urged the civil society and the media to do more in educating the public about corruption.

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