Public servants convicted of corruption in Rwanda shot to 157 from 2014 up from 118 to 2015, as the government toughens its stance against officials who use public funds for their own gain.

The convicted, whose names were published by the Ombudsman as required by law, may not be employed by the state once they serve their prison sentences.

Their names are made public in order to “deter” further mismanagement of resources, bribery and corruption, as well as misconduct among public servants, according to the Ombudsman.

“Public servants in all institutions, regardless of their positions, should know that incompetence and corruption cannot be tolerated. That is one of the reasons why we are by law required to publish names of those who have been convicted by the courts,” Aloysie Cyanzaire, the Ombudsman, said in an interview with Rwanda Today.

“Those who are convicted cannot be hired again by public institutions. This shows the seriousness we attach to professionalism and protecting national resources against wastefulness.”

In addition, the government published a list of public servants who were dismissed for wastefulness, incompetence and gross misconduct.

Although people in this category did not face conviction, they are also labelled “blacklisted” and are barred from being employed in any government institution.

READ: Rwanda to list names of officials in corruption scandals

The police force headed this list with 557 officers dismissed from the force over a period of time stretching from 2002, according to figures from the Ministry of Labour and Public Service — although the dates of their dismissal were not provided.

The police force is followed closely by the former Energy, Water and Sewerage Authority, which dismissed over 300 employees, and Rwanda Social Security Board, which dismissed 41 employees for “gross misconduct” over a period of 13 years.

In total, the Ministry of Labour and Public Service named over 1,500 blacklisted individuals who were dismissed for gross misconduct, resources mismanagement, incompetence and causing losses to government.

Last year alone, over 100 employees were blacklisted (excluding police officers), while this year, at least 39 employees have already been dismissed and blacklisted.

There have however been concerns that the published names are mainly low-ranking officials and not senior officials.

Government responded to this concern in March when members of parliament proposed a law that would allow phones of top government officials suspected of corruption to be tapped.

The lawmakers argued that such radical measures are important to stop the increasing difficulty in fighting corruption among top officials, especially in development projects of which a total of 75 valued at Rwf125 billion were reported to have stalled due to corruption and gross mismanagement.

A high profile case, so far, where phone conversations were presented as evidence in a corruption trial, happened in March during the trial of Dr Rose Mukankoemeje, who was the director general of Rwanda Environment Management Authority.

In the East African Community, Uganda and Kenya have also attempted to legalise phone tapping.

The 2015 Corruption Perception Index by Transparency International ranked Rwanda as the fourth least corrupt country in Africa.

It is the least corrupt in East Africa, followed by Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Burundi respectively.