Editor,

Refer to the story, "About 415,300 shareholders could lose stake in Banque Populaire” (The New Times, May 5)

To the CEO, Banque Populaire du Rwanda (BPR), Ephraim Twahirwa: where is the list of 415,292 shareholders? This will be unfair for the orphans of the Genocide against the Tutsi who are struggling with life and whose parents’ shares lie in your bank.

Please put the list on BPR website and all shareholders. You can, in the meantime, publish all the hard copies according to the district.

Peter

***********************

BPR should publish the list of 415,292 "unknown” shareholders on its website. The notice is not enough.

Again, due to the aftermath of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, most Rwandans relocated to different areas for survival, which means it would be so costly for anyone to travel from current location to the previous one (where they lived before the Genocide) to identify if they or their parents owned unknown shares in BPR.

We know very well that Rwandans are connected to the internet; BPR should make it make for those concerned to do online registration. This would also benefit those in the Diaspora.

Ben K.

***********************

For all intents and purposes, this is a heist. BPR has a buyer but cannot legally sell shares that are not theirs so they put out a notice saying that people have three months to register or else their shares will be sold.

Any good banker knows that statistics is on their side, the majority of the 400,000 plus shareholders are unlikely to register, some have since passed on, their children are unaware of the shares, many have opened accounts elsewhere.

So the odds are the bank retains majority share and thus can sell at whatever price they see fit with no liability to pay off shareholders who may lay claim at a later date because they put out a notice. It’s brilliant but a heist nonetheless.

Concerned Rwandan