Rwanda: 200 Officers Fired Over Corruption Charges

The Rwandan government has fired 200 police officers after they were accused, and subsequently charged, of corruption.

The decision to fire the police officers was approved during a cabinet meeting last week, in which Rwandan president, Paul Kagame, acted as the chairperson.

Police spokesperson, Theos Badege, made it clear that the government will not tolerate any corruption within its police force. He said in a statement that integrity and accountability are values expected of all officers on duty.

“It is a national policy to ensure zero tolerance to graft [sic]” he said.

Rwanda has a strong approach to anti-corruption. In the last year, the country has arrested more than 200 civilians for allegedly giving bribes to Rwandan police officers.

The government also prides itself on running a country without corruption by government officials. While there are instances of corruption reported, Rwanda is doing considerably better than its African counterparts in terms of anti-corruption efforts.

According to Transparency International’s latest survey, Rwanda came third (tied with Mauritius) as the least corrupt (or ‘cleanest’) country in sub-Saharan Africa.

For the third time in a row, Botswana was declared the least corrupt sub-Saharan African country.

The fact that Rwanda placed third on the least corrupt list, shows exactly how serious its government is about fighting corruption in the country.