450 gov’t employees fail to declare wealth

KIGALI - A TOTAL of 451 government employees failed to declare their wealth last year, information from the office of Ombudsman indicates.According to the Ombudsman, out of 4929 government employees, 4478 complied with the 2004 law that requires leaders to declare their wealth. However, during the declaration exercise, it was also discovered that among those who met the deadline did not declared all their wealth.Cases of those who under declared or employees whose wealth did not match their earnings were forwarded to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). “We forwarded these cases to police for further scrutiny. Employees must be straight forward,” said Jeanne Mwiseneza, Director of the Wealth Declarations Department in an interview with The New Times on Friday. “We distributed the declaration forms in time. They know the deadline is June 30 every year,” Mwiseneza said. The Director of CID, Christopher Bizimungu, could not be reached for comment by press time, while police spokes-person Willy Marcel Higiro needed time to clarify the information. Government leaders are required by law to submit their annual declaration of income, assets and liabilities by June 30 as part of the fight against corruption. Other wealth indicators considered are land, cars, houses and cash. Those supposed to declare their wealth include ministers, judges, MPs, police, army and prisons officers, heads of departments, local governments and district employees. The highest punishment for persons who fail to comply with this law, according to the sources from the office of Ombudsman, is the possibility of suspension without pay. Tito Rutaremara the Ombudsman had earlier said his office had already contacted various institutions to discipline their unruly employees. President Paul Kagame has in the past called upon every patriotic citizen to stand up against corruption and all practices related to it if the country is to live by its catch-phrase of ‘Zero tolerance on corruption’. Ends

National

450 gov’t employees fail to declare wealth