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REPUBLIC OF RWANDA. OFFICE OF THE OMBUDSMAN RWANDA’S EXPERIENCE. 1. Legal frame work. The Office of the Ombudsman is an independent public institution which was established by 2003 Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda as amended to date in its article 182 ;
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REPUBLIC OF RWANDA OFFICE OF THE OMBUDSMAN RWANDA’S EXPERIENCE
1. Legal frame work • The Office of the Ombudsman is an independent public institution which was established by 2003 Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda as amended to date in its article 182 ; • Law n°25/2003 of 25/2003 establishing the organisation and functioning of the Office of the Ombudsman as modified ; • The Office of the Ombudsman is made up of the Chief Ombudsman and two Deputy Ombudsman. They are proposed by the Cabinet and elected by the Senate. The Chief Ombudsman has a mandate of four years renewable once, while the Deputy Ombudsman has a three years mandate also renewable once.
Legal framework (cont’d) • Rwanda has signed and ratified the UN Convention Against Corruption and is a signatory of the OECD Convention on combating bribery; • Rwanda also signed and ratified African charter against corruption and related offences; • Law n°23/2003 of 07/8/2003 on preventing and fighting corruption and related offences and related offence. • Law on Leadership Code of Conduct and many other laws which helps the Office to accomplish its mission
Responsibilities of the Office of the Ombudsman • As the constitution stipulates in its article 182, the responsibilities of the Office are mainly the following: • Act as a link between the citizen and public/private institutions; • Prevent and fight against injustice, corruption and other related offences in public and private administration; • Receive and examine, in the aforementioned context, complaints from individuals and independent associations against the acts of public officials or organs, and private institutions and mobilise these officials and institutions in order to find solutions to such complaints if they are well founded;
Responsibilities of the Office of the Ombudsman (Cont’d) • Receiving the faithful declaration of assets of senior civil servants and employees involved in public property management; • Implementation of the code of conduct regulating government officials’ behaviour
2. Mechanisms of preventing Injustice, Corruption and related Offences used by the Office Several mechanisms have been undertaken so as to achieve the above mentioned missions of the Office as seen below : • Educating the public and dissemination of information • Several education campaigns, including through the publication and distribution of brochures or the holding of public conferences, fixing of the billboards and sign posts in different parts of the country • Training different groups of people on the dangers of corruption (private sector, National Police, youth groups etc).
2.1Mechanisms (Cont’d) • Toll free hotline where people can call & submit their complaints All these are conducted in order to enhance public awareness of the evil and dangers of corruption and injustice.
Mechanisms cont’d • Civil servants, employees of private institutions, students are also educated. These campaigns are also meant to inform the public about the institution, its attributions, and its relationship with other institutions.
Members of the media discussing their role in the fight against injustice and corruption with the Officers of Ombudsman Office
Ombudsman office sensitizing the civil society on the evils of corruption and how it can be prevented and combated.
Anti-corruption Clubs • The Office has encouraged the formation of Anti-corruption clubs in secondary schools and in High Institutions of Learning, at moment they are a very many and they are helping the office by receiving complaints of Mal-administration & submit them to the Office.
2.2 Declaration of wealthy • Property declaration • This is another mechanism is provided under both the Constitution and the law establishing the Ombudsman, where leaders should differentiate their personal property from that of the state, it is an activity done by the ombudsman office to prevent embezzlement of public funds by government officials and to promote transparency in public administration
Declaration (Cont’d) • In this respect, all top government officials are required to declare their property one month after the commencement of their duties, while all civil servants who the law obliges to declare their wealth execute this obligation not later than 30th June of each year. Outgoing leaders are supposed to declare their wealth in 15 days.
H.E Paul Kagame submitting his form of declaration of Assets
The Rt. Hon. Prime Minister Bernard Makuza after declaring his wealthy to the Ombudsman Office
Declaration (cont’d) • The legal consequence of this activity is that any public official who fails to justify the legal source or origin of his or her property is considered to be guilty of illicit enrichment. Thus, in such instance, the ombudsman immediately refers the case to the Public Prosecution which summits the file to the court’s of law for proceedings to be undertaken. Persons guilty of such acts are normally sentenced to a term of imprisonment of between 2 and 5 years and a fine ranging from twice to 10 times the value of the property the legal source of which, he or she is not able to justify.
Table of Receiving and Verifying Declaration of Assets (2004-2009)
Table of Receiving and Verifying Declaration of Assets (2004-2009)
Declaration (cont’d) • According to reports of the previous years, this measure has been more than 80% successful because most of public officials and civil servants have respected it.
2.3 Operational Audit and control of Public and private Institutions • In addition to the above mechanisms used to prevent injustice and corruption , the Ombudsman also monitors on a regular basis the functioning of all government institutions, bodies and parastatals and private institutions. Such controls are conducted to examine the practices, systems and procedures of such bodies to facilitate the discovery of corrupt practices and secure the revision of such practices, systems or procedures which may be prone or conducive to corrupt practices.
Operational audit (Cont’d) • Particularly, the ombudsman controls whether those government or private institutions and bodies; have a system of internal control; function in accordance to the governing laws and if such laws are not conducive or do have loopholes that give room for corruption. The Office also makes follow up of the implementation of the policy of preventing and fighting against injustice, corruption and related offences
3.Investigation Powers • The Ombudsman, two Deputy Ombudsman and some employees have powers of preliminary investigations. They carry out investigations and submit the files to the Prosecution Authority.
Investigation (cont’d ) • Some cases of corruption and related offences have been identified by the Office of the Ombudsman while examining the practices, systems and procedures of government institutions, Others came from information got in different ways; • The Office of the Ombudsman may on its initiative carry out investigations on corruption cases and thereafter submit the file to Prosecution Authority to act on it.
Number of corruption cases investigated NOTE: From 2004-2007 cases reported were related to corruption only. 2008 most of cases reported were related to maladministration which was not the case in previous years.
4.Achievements gained • Raising awareness: a big number of population in the whole country are now aware of their fundamental rights; • With massive sensitization program of the office the population is willing to denounce injustice and corruption tendencies committed in all administrative level in the government; • Investigation of corruption cases;
Achievements (Cont’d) • Receiving and verifying declaration of assets; • Conducting Corruption surveys; • Receiving and solving citizen complaints has been done well. • The population is fully aware of where to take their complaints in case of injustice or Mal-administration .
5. Partnership with other Institutions • The Ombudsman office chairs the National Anti-Corruption Advisory Council which comprises the following institutions: • Office of Ombudsman, National Police, Supreme Court, National Public Prosecution Authority, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Local Government and National Security Services. This council helps in sharing information regarding corruption • The office of Ombudsman is in partnership with the civil society like the media, NGO’s, youth etc. so that the fight against corruption can be strengthened
Partership con’t • Office of Ombudsman is a member of East African Association of Anti-Corruption Authorities (EAAACA) where Rwanda is the Chairing this Association up to 2011; • The Vission of this Association is to promote the spirit of zero tolerance against corruption and encourage regional cooperation in preventing and combating corruption. • Memebers of this Association are Anti-corruption Agencies from Burundi,Kenya,Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda
Objectives of EAAACA This Association has got major objectives as highligh below: • Anti-Corruption Authorities shall cooperate with each other for detecting, tracing, investigating, confiscating and repatriation of assets and instruments tainted with corruption through out East African Community region
Objectives con’t • To have Joint investigations into cross border corruption to enhance the spirit of East African community cooperation • To have joint training, research particularly in the area of asset recovery, investigations,and intelligence; • To have a programme of exchanging infomation and experience; • To privide Mutual Legal Assistance among the paterner staes of the East African Community.
