Rwanda National Police

For the passed months, a number of people have been arrested in connection with either making or distributing fake money.

Majority of the suspects were either apprehended or reported by the victims thanks to the winning card of the proactive community policing approach. Majority fake currency notes are  said to be in the denomination of Rwf2, 000 and Rwf5, 000.

Counterfeit or forged money is never considered a major problem in Rwanda, but one cannot ignore the fact that there are forged currency notes in circulation, in various denominations, and can haunt the economy if not checked collectively at an early stage.

Besides being illegal and a crime under the Rwandan laws, fake money has an ill-effect on society as it leads to a reduction in the value of real money.

It increases prices (inflation) due to more money getting circulated in the economy – an unauthorised artificial increase in the money supply; leads to decrease in the acceptability of paper money and cause losses to the business community.

Although financial institutions have installed hi-tech equipment to easily detect fake monies, the likely majority victims could be the local people dealing in small businesses in communities; those selling vegetables, owning small shops in villages, to mention but a few.

These traders will lose their goods to these crooks and will not be reimbursed for the detected and confiscated fake monies.

This community policing spirit is what is required of the general public, especially the business community, to always be vigilant and check the given currency notes thoroughly, and report people that are involved in these criminal acts, which have ill-impact on the economy.

Articles 601 to 604 of the Rwandan penal code criminalize and punish those who falsify or alter coins and bills which are legal tender. The articles also punish those, who knowingly circulates fake monies and those who acquires fake currencies unknowingly, but circulates them after discovering they are counterfeit.

It should, therefore, be a collective responsibility by everyone to report those individuals involved in falsifying and circulating currencies.