Government institutions shunned bribes in 2014

Albeit slipping in the global corruption perception index (CPI), bribery, one of the many forms of the multi-faceted vice took a nose dive among government institutions in 2014, this according to Transparency International, Rwanda chapter. In the corruption watch dog’s Bribery Perception Index (BPI) report released in Kigali on Wednesday, public institutions such as the Police and Judiciary have taken fewer bribes this year compared to yesteryears. This year’s bribery index which marks the fifth edition based on results collected from a sample size of 2510 respondents from eleven of Rwanda’s thirty districts and indicates that bribery has been lower in 2014 compared to 2013. According to the findings, at least 51.8 per cent of Rwandans say they see their country as having low levels of corruption compared to 44.9 per cent who believed so last year. The BPI, according to Albert Rwego, Transparency International Rwanda’s Program Manager, measures the perception of corruption in the current year, one year ago and the year to come. “It mainly focuses on five indices namely, likelihood, prevalence, average size of bribe, share of bribe and impact of bribe,” said Rwego. The index also studies respondents’ perceptions about the level of government commitment to fight corruption and level of reporting corruption. Findings Regarding the perceived current level of corruption, results indicate that 16.3 per cent of Rwandans think bribery levels have gone higher this year although 51.8 per cent of respondents disagreed saying instead it has reduced while 26.2 per cent said it’s moderate. 5.7 per cent had no opinion. Rwandans also expressed their opinions regarding future incidences of corruption and at least 77.6 per cent told researchers that graft will drastically decrease in 2015 but 6.5 per cent said it’s bound to increase. What most Rwandans agree on however is government’s commitment to fight against corruption with at least 97.3 per cent if respondents asserting that there were visible efforts by the state to deal with corruption. In 2013, only 88 per cent of Rwandans had confidence in the government’s anti-graft efforts, while 17.8 percent said they had encountered bribery this year. Only 14 percent of them have actually paid any bribe and when asked, respondents said they wanted to speed up service delivery from relevant officials. In 2013, at least 20.5 per cent of respondents said they were asked for a bribe a number which has drastically reduced this year to just 12.4 per cent. Police, Local government and Judiciary, according to respondents, are the most bribe-prone public institutions although there’s a noticeable trend of decline compared to the previous year. For instance, while 6.44 per cent of Rwandans believe the Police take more bribes; this is lower than the 10.22 per cent who thought so last year. “That’s because we have put mechanisms in place to fight the vice in the force,” said Assistant Commissioner of Police Theos Badege. While bribery reduction was slight in Local Government, from 5.94 per cent in 2013 to 4.41 per cent this year, judiciary made major strides in combating pay-offs as prevalence dropped from 5.8 per cent last year to 2.16 per cent this year. Share of 2014 bribes The average income earned by those sampled in the survey was found to be Rwf15,000 but according to findings, the average size of the bribes paid out to various institutions was higher than their earnings. For instance the average size of a bribe given to Police is Rwf20,554 while payouts to judicial officials averaged Rwf40,673; it’s Rwf30,917 in the private sector, Rwf83,048 in banks and Rwf28,333 at the National Land Office. According to the report, the share of bribes paid out this year was dominated by police, local government, banks and the judiciary. The largest share of all bribes ‘eaten’ in 2014 went to the police accounting for at least 32.08 per cent of all bribes closely followed by local government ministry with 23.57 percent, 13.48 was received by banks, 12.78 by the Judiciary and 7.17 went to the Private sector. It’s not clear why the share of bribes to banks is separated from that of the private sector, but according to the researchers, respondents said most credit officers either demand bribes to speed up loan applications or ask for kickbacks after a loan is issued. “It’s tricky to act on these claims, often times we have received comments from clients alleging corruption by our staff but no evidence is adduced making it difficult to act on the claims,” said Maurice Toroitich, Managing Director of KCB Rwanda. Apart from banks, the report also charged government licensing institutions such as the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority and others whose officers are alleged to be compromised during the license application processes. “It doesn’t make any sense for someone to bribe an official when the process of obtaining a license for any of the things we regulate is clear. In any case, we have a very transparent system and if any evidence is adduced pinning an official in an act of corruption, we shall act decisively,” said. Patrick Nyirishema, RURA Director General. Criticism Observers say the country’s bribery index is nothing more than what respondents think and that the findings are not backed by evidence. Also, 72.4 percent of those sampled were farmers with 77.8 percent of them based in rural areas and their income on average, a meager Rwf15,000 per month; this, critics say represents only petty corruption and that Transparency International Rwanda seems to be deliberately avoiding the big fish. Other critics pointed out that the study focused on respondents aged between 25 and 29 years who are generally youth but left out people of advanced age who hold bigger positions of responsibility and are likely to encounter more bribery situations. However, Marie Immaculée Ingabire, Chairperson of Transparency International Rwanda defended the findings saying they reflect the reality of Rwanda’s demographics.

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Government institutions shunned bribes in 2014