Corrupt driving schools to lose licences

Owners or directors of driving schools implicated in corruption acts risk losing operational licence as part of efforts to fight graft, following reports implicating some of them. This is among the resolutions adopted by owners and managers of driving schools in the country, Wednesday, at the closing of three-day course in ethics, management and leadership skills, organised by the Rwanda National Police (RNP).It was agreed that in case a school staff is involved in any graft case within the school, they will be suspended and charged individually, according to the resolutions read by their representative, Celestin Rwiyamira.Rwiyamira, who noted that the course had been long overdue, is the owner of Midland Driving School in Kigali.The driving school proprietors also committed not to give driving licence tests to candidates who have not undergone a mandatory 30 days of training.According to Rwiyamira, all driving schools have also been asked to include defensive driving – elementary mechanics – on their curriculum.This means that all those registered to seat for driving tests in schools will be required to first produce a certificate issued by the school before seating for a provisional or practical test.The move to have only students who attended all the school courses to seat for the driving tests comes as a boon to efforts by the Rwanda National Police to improve on road safety and to involve all stakeholders in fighting graft. But the participants appealed to traffic police to reduce the time taken to release results of their students to not later than two weeks; instead of about a month it takes currently.