Heads of Anti-Corruption Agencies in Commonwealth Africa are gathered in Kigali for their 12th Regional Conference from 3^rd to 6^th May 2022.They discussed innovative approaches being used to fight against Corruption.

The Opening ceremony of the conference was held at Kigali Convention Centre on 3^rd May 2022. In her welcome remarks, the Chief Ombudsman of Rwanda, Nirere Madeleine expressed gratitude to the heads of Anti-corruption Agencies for having chosen Rwanda as a host.

She noted that corruption has been proven to have a bigger impact in developing countries where skills, expertise & logistics for fighting the vice are still lacking. Therefore, new innovative skills in prevention and fighting corruption are required.

The Chief Ombudsman highlighted some of the key anti-corruption measures undertaken by the government of Rwanda including: 

• Adoption of a national anti-corruption policy.
• Use of electronic platforms
• Set up of anti-corruption committees

Hon. Nirere Madeleine delivering her remarks to the Conference

Concluding her remarks, the Chief Ombudsman Nirere Madeleine called on the heads of Anti-corruption Agencies to maintain strong collaboration with National, Regional, and International partners to fulfil their goals of sustainable development. The Special guest, the Secretary-General of the commonwealth, Rt.Honorable Patricia Scotland delivered her remarks to the participants.

Rt.Hon. Patricia Scotland said "Corruption goes beyond national boundaries and is global in nature. The secrecy in the jurisdiction has further made anti-corruption work challenging. The cooperation and sharing of information are crucial in asset tracking and recovery of assets."

"We must develop and work simple mechanisms to recover ill-gotten assets lying in foreign jurisdictions. The collaboration must go beyond the anti-corruption agencies to the anti-money laundering agencies and tax authorities in the commonwealth countries" She said.

The Secretary-General noted "We can win the war against corruption through collaboration cooperation and through a whole of the Commonwealth approach and using transformative technologies."

The opening ceremony concludes with a Keynote address by Guest of honor Rwanda's Prime Minister Rt. Honorable Edouard Ngirente in which he applauded the Agencies' efforts in the fight against corruption. He also urged participants to come up with innovative approaches to curb corruption.

Participants

The conference brought together delegates from 18 countries: Botswana, Cameroon, Eswatini, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.

The heads of Anti-Corruption agencies last met in Uganda for their 9th Regional conference, in which they confirmed Rwanda as the host of the next conference. Due to Covid-19, both 2020 and 2021’s conferences were held virtually by the Commonwealth Secretariat.