In Qatar, on Sunday, May 15,2022, the Office of the Ombudsman of Rwanda signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Administrative Control and Transparency Authority (ACTA) of Qatar in promoting integrity and transparency.

The Memorandum was signed by H.E the President of Administrative Control and Transparency Authority, H.E Hamad Bin Nasser Al-Misnad and the Chief Ombudsman of Rwanda Hon. NIRERE Madeleine, in the presence of number of Officials from ACTA.

In her speech on this occasion, the Chief Ombudsman of Rwanda said that the signing of the memorandum of understanding is an important event in addition to other tangible efforts made by Qatar and the Rwandan Government in order to strengthen their bilateral relations.

 “We are all aware of the negative effects of corruption on the economies of countries, on the welfare of people, social justice and equity, and on security. Therefore, several mechanisms have been established in our countries, including legislative mechanisms, as well as the establishment of institutions to combat corruption.”   She added

She stressed that Rwanda, in its vision 2050, places fighting corruption among its priorities, and seeks to be among the first countries Worldwide in the fight against corruption. She explained that the memorandum signed by the two parties, comes at the appropriate time, while Rwanda is is the process of implementing the National Sustainable Development Strategy (2017-2024) and its vision 2050.

“Our aim behind this cooperation is to strengthen anti-corruption strategies by sharing best practices and exchanging experiences to combat it”. Hon. NIRERE said.

For his part, H.E. the President of the Administrative Control and Transparency Authority said that the signing of the memorandum of understanding is a new building block for the strong and distinguished relationship between the State of Qatar and the Republic of Rwanda in all fields, one of which is the choice of Rwanda to organize the ceremony of handing over the ‘Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani Anti-Corruption Excellence Award’, on December 9, 2019 in the capital, Kigali and from then, the International historical Anti-corruption monument has been raised at the Convention Centre.

H E Al Misnad added: “Our awareness of the danger of the phenomenon of corruption and its growing bad effects on the economies of countries and people’s lives and the ease of its spread in the world, made us more convinced of the importance of mobilizing efforts at the regional and international levels to combat it and address it by all possible means and methods. This comes in our signing of the Memorandum of Understanding, which aims to enhance cooperation between the two bodies in the areas of promoting integrity and combating corruption, in particular in the areas of training, research, and coordinating efforts in international forums, and the organizing of joint working visits.”

The memorandum of understanding aims to exchange experiences in the field of preventing and combating corruption, by arranging mutual working visits, in addition to supporting and unifying initiatives in the meetings and conferences of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption.

A part from the signing of a memorandum, the Chief Ombudsman of Rwanda also visited the Ministry of Justice, the Supreme Judicial Council, Public Prosecution where she met with H.E the President of the Judiciary Council of Qatar, H.E Minister of Justice and H.E Attorney General of Qatar. They  exchanged  on the strategies that both countries Rwanda & Qatar  are using  to implement zero tolerance to corruption and  how best can be the collaboration  in this area,  going forward.

Accompanied by Dr. Hafez Ali, Director of Marketing and Communication in Msheireb Properties, the Chief Ombudsman of Rwanda also visited the Msheireb Museums in Qatar.