TI boss commends Rwanda’s anti-corruption drive

The chairperson of Transparency International (TI), Huguette Labelle, has hailed Rwanda’s efforts in fighting corruption and called upon the government to work closely with countries around the world to fight trans-border money laundering and illicit trade. Labelle, a Canadian, was on Tuesday speaking on the last day of her two-day visit to Rwanda. She said the country’s legal and institutional framework were delivering good results. “I am pleased to see what is happening here. There are institutions in place which are essentially independent or at least perceived as such,” she told journalists. Transparency International’s report last year ranked Rwanda the least corrupt country in Africa and was among the top 50 best performing countries in the world out of 177 surveyed. For Labelle, Rwanda’s legal framework which has anti-graft laws and its functional judiciary and police as well as oversight institutions like the Auditor General and the Ombudsman, have helped create an environment with very little corruption. She said other countries can learn from Rwanda’s practices. Calling for the cooperation of Rwanda with other countries to fight corruption, the activist said one of the most challenging factors in the fight against the vice in the world today is the international nature of the crime. Given the current ease at which criminals move funds across borders using the internet, countries need to work together more than before, she advised. “Looking forward, I think it is important for all countries to cooperate on issues of money laundering,” the TI boss told The New Times in an exclusive interview. Labelle met and held talks with top government officials, including the Ombudsman, the Prosecutor General, the Inspector General of Police, and the Minister for Local Government. “Reading and finding out about Rwanda, I think it has some strong institutions,” she said. In a seeming reference to Imihigo, she also commended the government’s efforts at helping people in communities around the country to organise themselves and work with their districts and other local governments to plan and deliver development programmes. Imihigo is a homegrown practice whereby a lower entity of administration works with the people on the ground to plan their development programmes and sign performance contracts with a higher authority, pledging to realise the goals set in the contracts.

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TI boss commends Rwanda’s anti-corruption drive