The Executive Secretary of Transparency Rwanda (TR), Apollinaire Mupiganyi, has called for a change in mindset in the fight against all forms of corruption in the country.

In an interview with The New Times yesterday, Mupiganyi said that Rwanda is generally on the right track in the fight against the vice. He however noted that people’s mindsets are still bent on keeping cases of corruption under wrap which remains a stumbling block.

"Our survey established full political will from all government institutions; however, we realised that over 50 percent of the population don’t report cases of corruption and this is a serious issue which needs an urgent solution,” Mupiganyi.

He said that mindsets can be changed through public awareness campaigns, encouraging them to always report such cases to concerned authorities.

Rwanda was recently ranked the fourth least corrupt African country by the World Bank Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) project.

The country scored 70.8 percent, the fourth highest score, behind Mauritius with 73.2 percent, Cape Verde with 74.6 percent and Botswana, the least corrupt with 79.9 percent.

Mupiganyi noted that if all Rwandans take part in reporting cases of graft, the dream of achieving zero corruption, would be achieved, which he said, would translate into rapid development.

The TR survey indicated that corruption was most prevalent in local government authorities and other institutions like the National Police, especially the traffic department.

Speaking to The New Times, the acting Ombudsman, Augustin Nzindukiyimana, said that his office had set up anti-corruption committees at the district and other local levels, to fight the vice.

He however said that there was need for civil society organisations to actively participate in fighting against corruption.

"The war against corruption is cross-cutting and a continuous process, which needs every citizen’s participation,” he observed.

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