Rwanda’s Cabinet, chaired by President Paul Kagame at Urugwiro Village on Wednesday, April 2, has appointed CP Theos Badege as Deputy Commissioner General of the Rwanda Correctional Service — placing one of the country’s most experienced law enforcement figures at the top of its prison and rehabilitation system.
The appointment was confirmed in the official Cabinet Communiqué signed by Prime Minister Justin Nsengiyumva, alongside a wider set of appointments across several public institutions.
Badege, who holds the rank of Commissioner of Police, is moving from the Rwanda National Police, where he built a career spanning public communications, criminal investigations, and financial crime enforcement at INTERPOL.
His appointment replaces former Deputy Commissioner General Rose Muhisoni, who represented RCS at numerous international forums over the course of her tenure.
Thursday’s Cabinet session covered a broad range of national business, not just appointments.
Ministers were briefed on preparations for Kwibuka 32 — the 32nd commemoration of the Genocide against the Tutsi — scheduled to run from April 7 to 13, 2026, in Rwanda and abroad.
Cabinet also discussed the economic implications of the ongoing situation in the Middle East, particularly its impact on global energy and commodity markets, emphasizing the need to sustain Rwanda’s macroeconomic stability.
The Badege appointment sat within a wider set of leadership decisions that included new appointments at the Rwanda Development Board, the National Electoral Commission, the Office of the Ombudsman, and the National Public Prosecution Authority.
The move carries institutional weight
RCS holds the mandate of providing safe and humane custody for both pre-trial detainees and convicted inmates, while focusing on rehabilitation and successful reintegration into society after release.
Over the past year alone, the institution has signed cooperation agreements with Namibia and Seychelles, hosted high-level delegations from Sierra Leone’s war crimes court, and is preparing to host the International Corrections and Prisons Association (ICPA) conference in Kigali — a first for any African country.
Badege brings a different kind of experience to that environment. As the Rwanda National Police’s former Director of Criminal Investigations, he oversaw the institution that became the Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB), and later served as Head of the Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Centre at INTERPOL in Lyon — an internationally exposed, high-accountability role.
He was also the face of Rwanda’s police force as its chief spokesperson for years, a period during which he publicly championed a zero-tolerance stance on corruption within the institution.
Looking ahead, Badege steps into a role that demands both discipline and diplomacy.
RCS Commissioner General Evariste Murenzi has been the public face of a rapidly internationalizing institution, and his new deputy will need to match that pace.
With the Africa CEO Forum scheduled in Kigali on May 14–15 and a Nuclear Energy Innovation Summit for Africa set for May 18–21 in Kigali , Rwanda is in an active season of high-profile hosting — and RCS, as a showcase institution for African governments benchmarking correctional reform, will not be on the sidelines.
How Badege shapes the number-two role at RCS — whether leaning into its investigative integrity function or its growing international diplomacy — will be telling.
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