Ombudsman upbeat on wealth declaration

The Ombudsman, Tito Rutaremara, has said that civil servants are turning up in a large numbers to declare their wealth.The deadline for the declaration is June 30. “They have already started declaring and the turn up is good; this year, they are seriously declaring their wealth compared to previous years,” said Rutaremara, while speaking to The New Times yesterday. He added that they do not count the number of people who have declared until the last day of declaration. Government employees are required by the 2006 Wealth Declaration Law to submit their annual declaration of income, assets and liabilities for verification by June 30. The idea behind the declarations is that officials who accumulate wealth beyond their means should be investigated. “If they fail to declare their wealth on time for the first time, we ask them to explain to us in writing why they did not and if they do it for the second time, we suspend them from public service,” Rutaremara stated. He stressed that the civil servants who fail to declare their wealth before June 30 and do not explain to the Ombudsman office why they did so, are liable to prosecution. The Ombudsman mentioned that new leaders, for instance, ministers and other heads of department in central and local government still have time to declare their wealth since the deadline is June. Usually, the Office of Ombudsman gives a one-month ultimatum in which those caught up by the deadline return the forms, which is not the case this time. The Leadership Code Act aims at strengthening the fight against corruption through increased accountability and transparency by top leaders in government. They include the President, ministers, judges, MPs, Police, army and Prisons officers, heads of department in central and local governments, district leaders among others. Ends

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Ombudsman upbeat on wealth declaration