Briefing media about Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2017 report on Thursday, TI-Rwanda’s Executive Director, Apollinaire Mupiganyi, hailed media for the unrivalled role in pointing out corruption and sensitising the general public on preventing and fighting graft.
The anti-corruption watchdog’s report released on Wednesday ranked Rwanda as 48th globally with 55 score, reflecting a slight improvement compared to 50th position with 54 score in 2016 but retained best position in East Africa and third tying with Cape Verde in Sub-Saharan Africa which is topped by Botswana followed by Seychelles ranked 34th and 36th,respectively, globally.
Clément Musangabatware, the Deputy-Ombudsman in charge of Preventing and Fighting Corruption, also commended media role and called for concerted efforts from the general public, civil society, public and private institutions to intensify the battle
He listed government’s efforts against corruption including ensuring the recovery of misappropriated funds, digitising services to minimise provider-consumer interaction and tightening laws punishing corruption.
ACP Jean Nepo Mbonyumuvunyi, the Commissioner of Inspectorate of Services and Ethics at Rwanda National Police, also highly recognised media hand in the force’s work against corruption.
{{Journalists cite threats, suggest solutions}}
Despite their role also recognised by Patricia Moreira, the Managing Director of Transparency International, media practitioners and organs told IGIHE on Thursday that they can do even more were the conditions rendered favourable.
Announcing the CPI 2017 findings on Wednesday, Moreira called for increased protection of media and civil society, saying that among the journalists killed in the last six years, one in five was covering a story about corruption.
John Williams Ntwali, an independent journalist carrying experience of 17 years, said there are threats against investigative journalism in Rwanda including limited safety and financial constraints, adding that special mechanisms are needed to protect investigative journalists.
“Investigative journalism is highly risky and corruption is among the issues that are often investigated. Crimes done in the hiding are often shielded by strong powers. People often fear to point out people with extensive authority. We are sometimes forced to drop corruption investigations,” he said.
Ivan Mugisha, an investigative reporter with The East African, said “The major risk to investigative journalism in Rwanda is security. Reporters who try to uncover corruption involving influential politicians or businessmen are sometimes threatened. The second challenge is lack of information. Government institutions are sometimes adamant and refuse to give journalists information despite the existence of a law on access to information.”
Mugisha cited the establishment of Rwanda Media Commission (RMC) as “an important step towards facilitating investigative journalists because now we do not have to worry about jail sentences for writing stories like it was in the past. The other credible step government has taken is to decriminalise defamation.”
Albert Baudouin Twizeyimana, the National Coordinator of Pax Press, a local NGO operating in promoting media professionalism, said there are still security threats against investigative journalism in Rwanda despite good policies fighting corruption, adding that a stronger networking of civil society and media can help encounter the threats.
He also called for government’s special financial support to journalists doing corruption investigation, citing ombudsman office and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning as being in the right position.
Gonzaga Muganwa, the Executive Secretary of Rwanda Journalists Association, said that no journalist has been killed or reported facing threats covering corruption but cites financial constraints and skills gap as serious impediments for investigative journalism.
{{RMC, MHC speak}}
Emmanuel Mugisha, the Executive Secretary of RMC, also said the body has recorded no case of threats against a journalist doing investigation of corruption and called for increased public support to investigative journalism, urging media houses to come up with innovative approaches that can contribute to their financial means.
He also urged journalists to take safety precautions in their work of investigation, noting that investigative journalism carries safety risks everywhere in the world.
Peacemaker Mbungiramihigo, the Executive Secretary of Media High Council (MHC), acknowledged media’s limited financial and skills constraints, saying that MHC is doing the best in capacity building.
“We want to increase training focusing on specialised reporting so that we get professional investigative journalists who can do more in fighting corruption and other crimes. We also ask other concerned institutions to keep increasing media’s financial means,” he said.
He added that MHC has introduced training types that take reporters to a certain area and spend good days getting familiar with the residents, making it easier for citizens to open up and tell reporters about issues like corruption.
For the first time, CPI study examined the relationship between corruption levels and the protection of journalistic freedoms and engagement of civil society. It found that at least nine out of 10 journalists killed in the last six years were in the most corrupt countries scoring 45 and less on CPI.
On average, at least one journalist was killed in a country that is highly corrupt every week.
New Zealand leads the CPI 2017 ranking with 89 scores down from 90 in 2016, followed by Denmark, Finland, Norway and Switzerland.
Rwanda leads the East African region, followed by Tanzania ranked 103th, Kenya 143rd, Uganda 151st and Burundi 157th globally.
The bottom five countries are Somalia with 9 scores, South Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan and Yemen with 12, 14, 15 and 16 scores respectively.
More than two-thirds of countries scored below 50 per cent while the global average score is 43 on the scale 0 to 100 with zero being the highly corrupt while 100 is for no corruption.
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