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How Much Are You Worth?Sep 19, 2011 (The Independent/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) -- Top officials' wealth goes online to save costs and reduce potential for corruption, but remains unavailable to the public Rwanda's no-tolerance corruption policy is well-known in East Africa. Although it has at times led to severe punishments for a apparently small crimes--last year Kalisa Hassan, a driver from Rwanda's western border town of Gisenyi, was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in jail for having accepted a bribe of Rwf 17,000 ($30)--it has also made the country amongst the least corrupt and most transparent countries on the continent. Rwanda depends primarily on two offices to keep the country honest: the National Public Procurement Authority and the Office of the Auditor General and the Ombudsman's Office. Since 2004, the Ombudsman's Office--a department of nine people--has counted amongst its responsibilities the reception of declarations of assets of government officials, including the president, prime minister, the president of the Supreme Court, and high-ranking officials in the RPF. "With a deadline every year of June 30, they are required to declare immovable assets like houses and land, movable assets - livestock, money in the bank, vehicles - as well as industries and incorporeal assets like shares [and] debts owed," explains Jean Pierre Nkurunziza, advisor to the ombudsman. "If married, they also have to declare the assets of their spouse, and any children below 18 years [of age], because children in this age bracket can't be expected to have their own wealth just yet." Declarers, adds Nkurunziza, are also expected to put on the public record the source of their assets - be it salary, donation or gifts received - and the location and value of those assets. Previously, participants were required to submit their assets in document form, but since February this year the Ombudsman's Office has been training all public institutions on how to declare their assets online through the Online Declaration of Assets System. To date, office records show that the program has been successful with 6,728 of the 7,563 expected declarers meeting their deadline - an 89 percent success rate. "In the past, we sent out staff to distribute and collect declaration forms, and this arguably put them in a position that made them vulnerable to corruption," says Nkurunziza. "The new system has eliminated this and works towards our goal of total transparency." The new system, says Nkurunziza, is also more convenient because it no longer requires staff to travel around the country, handing out declaration booklets - a costly exercise in terms of printing, transport, and allowances--while the booklets, which used to be kept in safes, also had significant storage costs. After assets are declared, the office investigates and corroborates with banks to confirm all is in order. Punishments for those who don't declare their assets include a suspension without monthly salary, but mitigating factors such as demonstrated illness are also considered. In the case that a declaration is found to be fraudulent, the official responsible is handed over to the penal court, whereupon an appropriate punishment is determined. "If you declare your wealth annually, you are cautious of the consequences," says Nkurunziza. "Even if you have plans to offload some of that wealth to a cousin or someone else, you can't be sure they will give it back because you will have no case against them." A study carried out in 2009 proved that more than 70 percent of officials required to declare their wealth agreed that it sustained and enhanced their integrity. "It is very important because it reduces the physical contact by eliminating the middle man," says Mayor of Kigali Fidele Ndayisaba. "Officers who were in charge of collecting this data are human beings. Human nature makes them prone to temptation, but when we cut it and deal with machines which don't have sentiment or the ability to negotiate, it makes it more transparent." Ndayisaba noted that declaring wealth online also improved efficiency and service delivery with the added advantage of being cost-effective. "You can imagine civil servants coming from far-away provinces and some from outside the country to report to the ombudsman in Kigali. It was not cost-effective and caused delay for some people." The mayor also joked that flimsy reasons, which may have been used as an excuse in the past, were now eliminated. "When people had to declare by booklet, they could later blame their inconsistencies on handwriting - but with a computer, if it's five, then it's five," he laughed. The President of the Senate of Rwanda Dr Vincent Biruta adopted a more circumspect approach, saying it was the first time declaration has been done online and that he suspected it had been cumbersome for some. Despite this fear, however, he was keen to emphasise the transition did not affect his own office. "As far as the Senate is concerned, we were helped out by ICT staff and everyone declared their assets on time," he said. Biruta did not consider the procedure to be an invasion of privacy since public servants were answerable to the people they served. "It doesn't make a difference," he says. "Whether we declared online or not, the principle remains the same." Charles Kaliwado, a spokesperson for the Supreme Court, added that the new system would enable easier investigations of fraudulent activity. "I think it's easier because when we are tracking [defaulters or anyone who provides wrong information] we use the database of the Ombudsman," he says. "It saves time." Kaliwado adds that it was the duty of the police and prosecution to follow these records and determine punishment, but says any inconsistencies could land someone in jail for as long as two years. "In our legal system, you can't be a public servant if you have served a sentence of more than six months, which would eliminate anyone found guilty of public office," he explains. Despite recent international penetration and hacking of internet systems, both Kaliwado and Nkurunziza say they have complete confidence that the security of this information will be kept safe. In order to gain access to the system, they explain, an email and password is required, and aside from the security provisions incorporated into the software, the Ombudsman Office has added an additional system of security against possible intruders. Nkurunziza also points out that the nine people in the declaration unit swore an oath not to reveal anything related to the declaration of assets. To ensure efficiency and even more transparency, all staff from the Ombudsman Office are also required to declare their wealth to the Senate. The Rwandan public has also seemed to endorse the shift, but some individuals such as Herbert Muhire, a local communications consultant, says that it would be beneficial if these records were open for public viewing and scrutiny since they belonged to public servants who were accountable to the people they served. Phillip Rukwira, a vocational student who also praised the policy, agreed it would make more sense if the public had access to these records. "It would really reflect on the transparency the government is trying to achieve," he said. |